Always There
by Encalamah
Summary: Dipper and Mabel Pines were twins with a very close relationship, but when Dipper has confused emotions about his sister how will he react, and what will the future hold for them? This is a Pinecest story line based on Gravity Falls, as a fair warning to people who may not want to read such content. For others who do please enjoy and let me know what you think.
1. Chapter 1

_**15**_

 _Careful…. careful…_

Dipper's tongue stuck out slightly at the corner of his mouth in concentration, as he ever so gently lowered the final card onto the house he had been building for the past hour. Once again Dipper and his twin sister Mabel found themselves spending the summer at their Grunkle's place in Gravity Falls, and once again Dipper was the one who was forced to watch over Grunkle Stan's gift shop while Mabel was off galavanting. The worst part? There hadn't been a customer for hours, this tourist trap was empty.

The tourist season, if it could even be called that around here, didn't start for a few more weeks. So until then Dipper's duties were limited to keeping things tidy, attending to the occasional hikers or roadtrippers that made their way to Gravity Falls and thus to the shop, and staving off boredom. The latter was beginning to become painfully difficult. Finally the last card of his house was in place, and Dipper leaned back and let out a sigh of relief. He cracked a smile as he inspected it closely, making sure everything was in place. In the middle of his triumph however, the front door to the shop was thrown resulting air pressure change toppled over the house of cards, and Dipper slammed his head onto the counter in absolute defeat.

"Are. You. Kidding me-", Dipper began, but stopped short in sulking when he realized who came in.

Mabel ran into the shop, tears streaming down her face. Before Dipper could open his mouth to ask what was wrong she stomped up the stairs into the attic and slammed the door. Dipper stared at the attic stairs, mouth slightly open in confusion, then tore up the stairs to see what was wrong with his sister. He cautiously approached the door and rapped on it gently with his knuckle.

"H- hey Mabes? Can I come in?"

"Mmmphmm" was all that came from inside the room.

"Uh, o-okay, I'm coming in Mabel" Dipper said as he reached for the knob and turned it quietly. The room beyond was in darkness, and Dipper had to squint in order to see in the dimness. Mabel sat on her bed, legs bent up to her torso, face buried in her sweater. Her soft sobs muffled in the fabric of her sleeves. As Dipper watched his sister, every sob was like a punch to his gut. What had happened? What had made Mabel so sad? He needed to know, to make her feel better. He sat down on the bed beside her and placed his hand gently on Mabel's shoulder.

"Mabel, can you tell me what's wong?"

Mabel shook her head without a word.

"Mabel… please talk to me," he pleaded, "I want to help you."

Slowly she raised her head, wiping some tears away on her sleeve. Looking up at her brother their eyes met. Those eyes, Mabel's big chocolate eyes, they were filled with such sadness, it absolutely killed Dipper. He opened his mouth to say something comforting, but suddenly Mabel hugged him around the midsection and buried her face in his chest. Then the crying really began. Mabel began to heave with her sobs, and her cries vibrated in Dipper's chest cavity. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and rested his chin on her head.

"Shh, Mabel it's alright, I'm here, just tell me what happened."

"Joe…" Mabel began shakily, "he- told me he loved me last week… and today he-" she stifled another sob, her lower lip quivering.

"He what Mabes?" Dipper asked softly as he raised her head to look up at him.

"He dumped me for someone else," she burst into tears anew, "he lied to me!"

Dipper embraced Mabel again as her crying continued, gently stroking her soft hair. For several more minutes they simply sat on her bed together, locked in their hug, until eventually Mabel's crying subsided. Still Dipper held her, making absolutely sure that she was okay before finally letting her go. They sat side by side now, Mabel staring down at her covers, Dipper watching his sister intently. Eventually Mabel looked up at him, again he looked into her eyes, they were still sad, but as they stared at him the sorrow lifted from them a little.

"Thank you Dip…" she said softly.

"Hey, don't mention it sis, I'm always here for you," Dipper said with a smile, "and hey, I've got an idea, just wait right here for me, I'll be back in a few minutes." He got off the bed and went to the door, and turned back to her before walking out. "You'll stay right there won't you?"

She gave him a little nod, and he found himself thinking how cute it was, and then how strange that thought was. He pushed the thought aside for now and rushed down the stairs and out the door. He ran down to the gas station and quickly bought a surprise for Mabel. On his way out he spotted something and his blood immediately boiled.

"Hey, Joe!" he yelled across the gas station lot.

Mabel's former boyfriend stopped his walk home and turned to face Dipper, who was now stomping towards him. "Oh, hey Dipper, what's up?" In answer Dipper slugged Joe in the jaw with all the strength he had. Joe spun around as his head snapped sideways and he crumpled to the ground, covering his face with both hands.

"If you fuck with my sister then you fuck with me too," Dipper spat, and sauntered off fuming.

As he walked home Dipper's thoughts began to wander back to his ideas from before. Had he really thought that Mabel looked cute? Well sure, she was, people said that all the time. _But I've never said it._ A sudden tightness formed in his stomach. Was he attracted to Mabel? _Nope. No chance. That's your sister dude, what's wrong with you?_ With that he reassured himself that he was just being a caring brother, and picked up his pace for the final stretch home. He almost flew up the stairs and into the attic, holding Mabel's surprise behind his back. When he entered Mabel was still sitting on her bed. Looking up at Dipper she smiled, a smile that could melt anyone's heart, and it sure as hell melted his, and for the third time those eyes, they just got to him.

"Dip? Where did you go?" Mabel cocked her head slightly.

"Right!" Dipper snapped back into the moment, his cheeks turning red after realizing he had been staring. He approached the bed sheepishly and handed Mabel her surprise. Her face cracked with a genuine smile.

"You know chocolate always makes me feel better…" she said happily.

"Yyyes I do, you are my other half after all," they exchanged giggles, "and Mabes?"

"Yeah Dipper?"

"Don't worry about that asshole, you deserve better anyway," his voice lowered "and besides… I DO love you, and I always will."

"I- I love you too Dipper."

Dipper laid down in his bed and opened up a book, but he wasn't reading. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Mabel opened the chocolate and took a bite. She closed her eyes and smiled as the chocolate melted in her mouth. That was the way Mabel liked to eat chocolate, Dipper knew that. He knew everything about her, and she about him… or almost everything, but what she didn't know she couldn't know, because Dipper didn't even know what he felt. As Mabel laid back in bed and sighed contentedly with her surprise, Dipper stared distantly at the words on the pages of his book. The tightness came back to his stomach. He tried to start reading to take his mind off of everything, but didn't obey, there was only one thing on his mind.

 _Mabel._


	2. Chapter 2

_**17**_

 _Where are they? Where are they?_

Mabel sat outside the Shack in the warm June air staring down the road. It felt really good to be back in Gravity Falls. Every summer Dipper and her came back here to spend time at their Grunkle's place. It was a tradition of sorts, and it was always so much fun, just spending time with her brother goofing around all summer. This year however threatened to be one to break tradition, and it had made Mabel nervous. Ever since the summer after Freshman year Dipper had started acting strange. He became so distant, and not just from Mabel, from everyone. He stopped seeing his friends, he never showed any interest in dating, he barely ate, and sometimes Mabel swore she heard him crying in his room some nights. This went on all through Sophomore year, and Dipper seemed to get more and more disconnected from the world. During their next summer he seemed to improve a little, at first.

Being back in Gravity Falls seemed to bring him back to reality, and spending time with Mabel had seemed to help him the most, but any time he seemed to improve something would snap back and he would go back into himself, pushing away everything and everyone. As hard as it had been for him, it was hard for Mabel too. Seeing her brother like that was agony, and it was even worse not knowing how to help him. Their parents had sent him to a therapist, but that only seemed to make things worse, until finally things reached the breaking point. Dipper had attempted suicide. Mabel had found him before he had lost too much blood, and he was taken to the hospital. There he was admitted to the mental health ward and put on suicide watch. The doctors had said it was a combination of school and life stress. That was the last that Mabel had really seen of her brother. Dipper didn't really like having visitors at the hospital, and the few times mom, dad, and Mabel had gone to visit him he hadn't said much.

"How are you brobro?" Mabel would always ask cheerily.

"Fine," was all she would ever get, and a stare that seemed empty and hollow, like Dipper's soul was missing. Seeing him before that was agony, but seeing him like that at the hospital was death. For the past eight months he had been in the hospital, and the whole time Mabel felt lonely. Sure she had plenty of friends, and had a boyfriend for a while, but no matter how many people she surrounded herself with she always felt lonely, like a part of her was missing. She realized that the only time she didn't feel that way were during the hospital visits, but those only made her sad.

 _Today will be the turning point._ She was determined to make this summer the best summer ever for Dipper and her, she was going to get her brother back. She was going to do what no doctors or therapists could do and make him better. After eight months at the hospital with no incidents, and seeming improvement in the last month or two, Dipper's doctor thought it would be a good idea to let him come spend the summer in Gravity Falls as usual and reconnect with Mabel and just try and have some fun in a relaxed atmosphere.

So today was the day that their parents were bringing Dipper to Gravity Falls from the hospital. Mabel was excited to say the least, but also nervous. Would he be different? How would he react to seeing her outside of the hospital? _I'll probably just get 'I'm fine' from him like always_. Their parent's car coming into view down the road cut Mabel's thoughts short, as she got up in anticipation. She felt a tightness in her stomach as the car approached, coming to a stop a few feet away. Mom and dad got out first, and came to say hello to her and give her a hug before going inside to talk with Grunkle Stan. The back door opened and Dipper got out of the car and stood looking at her with his bags in his hands.

They stared at each other for a few moments, or maybe it was minutes. Looking into his eyes Mabel didn't see emptiness, she just saw him, her brother, just Dipper. Then he cracked a little grin, dropped his bags, and opened his arms. Mabel nearly smashed him into the car as she ran in for a hug, jumping on Dipper and wrapping her arms and legs around him in a vice grip, and burying her face into the crook of his neck.

"Oh my God I missed you Mabel…" he sighed.

"I missed you too Dippinsauce" she said without loosening her hold.

"Uh, can I take my bags inside?"

"Yes," she said, but her body was reluctant to listen and let Dipper out of the hug.

Finally she did, and together they got all of Dipper's luggage out of the car and up into the attic. Afterwards they had lunch with their parents and Grunkle Stan, a real family meal. It felt amazing, to have everyone there together, after eight months of Dipper's seat at the dinner table being empty, he was finally back. All through lunch Mabel watched him from the corner of her eye. He smiled, he talked, he even laughed once, but through the whole thing she noticed that at times Dipper would just stare off into space blankly, and he would start to look sad, as if he remembered something that the moment had only temporarily pushed out of his mind, and sometimes he would look at Mabel, and that look would get even sadder.

After lunch their parents started the trip back home, and Grunkle Stan got back to work, leaving the twins to their own business. After some persuading Mabel was able to get Dipper to agree to a walk in the forest. So leaving Dipper's things still in their luggage they set off to reacquaint themselves with Gravity Falls. They had been walking for about an hour and were pretty far in the woods when Mabel suggested a break, so they sat down together on a rock and stared off into the trees in silence. Dipper had that distant thoughtful look in his eyes again.

"Penny for your thoughts Dip?" Mabel asked.

"Huh? Oh-," he said as he snapped back into the moment. He blushed slightly and looked into her eyes, and smiled slightly, then quickly looked away as the smile faded. "Uh, nothing, just- thinking about how nice it is out here."

"It sure is," Mabel said with a smile, taking a breath of the pine scented air. She knew he was lying, but she decided not to press the matter just yet. She just enjoyed having Dipper around again. She felt content; complete. After a few more minutes of silence she decided to break it.

"Dip, what was the hospital like?"

"Lonely… empty… cold."

"Oh… I'm sorry…"

"It's alright, you asked, I just wanted to tell you the truth, it hasn't been fun, there are some pretty scary people in there."

"Do you always tell me the truth Dipper?"

"Sure, don't you?"

"Well yes, of course, you're my twin brother, if I can't tell you something then who can I tell?"

"Right…" he trailed off, going back into spacey thought mode.

"Is there anything you want to tell me Dip?"

Dipper opened his mouth and was about to say something, Mabel leaned her head closer in anticipation. She could see in his face that he was contemplating something.

"I- it just feels good to be back around here again… with you." he said, giving a forced looking smile. Mabel almost huffed in frustration. _That's not what he was going to say._

"It's good to have you back brobro," she smiled and played along for now.

They took the rest of their walk and made their way back home. After dinner they went up to their room, Dipper read a book, and Mabel drew in her sketchbook. Every now and again Mabel would look over at Dipper, he didn't seem very interested in the book, in fact he hadn't turned the page at all since he had started reading, and she noticed he would glance at her sometimes when he thought she wasn't paying attention. Something was going on in Dipper's head, and Mabel was determined to get to the bottom of it. That was what a good sister should do, wasn't it? Find out what was bothering him so she could help. In the meantime they both got ready to go to sleep. She would start planning in the morning.

For a while Mabel lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. An almost full moon shone in through the window, making it fairly easy to see in the dark room. She turned on her side and stared at Dipper's back as he lay in bed. Mabel wondered if he was asleep, he sure looked like it. Somehow looking at him, seeing that he was there a few feet away, safe, put her at ease, she didn't even notice her eyes closing. When she opened them again the room was still dark, the beam of moonlight had moved slightly, and Dipper was gone! She shot up in bed. _How long were my eyes closed?_ She frantically got dressed and looked around the house, Dip was nowhere to be found, and his shoes were missing. As she stepped outside and scanned around for anything in the darkness, she thought she saw a shape pass under the light of a street lamp in the distance. _Better than nothing_. Mabel started in that direction.

After ten minutes of walking she realized this road only led to one place, up to the old train bridge, sometimes Dipper and her liked to go up there and look at the view of Gravity Falls, it had to be Dip. The way up was quite a climb, and it was hard to see with all the tall trees blocking out the moonlight, but Mabel managed to make it up with only a few trips and no falls. As she approached the top of the slope the bridge came into view, and sure enough, there in the moonlight she saw Dipper, standing in the center of the bridge, staring out over the edge. Mabel crept on to the bridge carefully, making sure to place her feet correctly so that she didn't accidentally fall, this bridge was the killer kind of height.

"Dipper?" Mabel asked cautiously as she got within a few feet of her brother.

"Mabel!" Dipper reeled back startled, as he wiped his face with his jacket's sleeve. She could have told he had been crying without that, even in the pale light his eyes were noticeably swollen, and the tear streaks were heavy on his cheeks.

"Dip, wha- what were you doing up here?" she asked nervously.

"Nothing," he said, looking away from her.

"Dipper Pines, what were you doing up here?!"

"I wanted to jump okay?"

She had guessed at it, but his admittance hit her like a sledge hammer. She could feel pressure behind her eyes, as tears threatened to spill. Her lower lip quivered, and Dipper took a step forward, reaching for her hand.

"Mabel… no, please don't-"

"No! You don't!" she screamed. "You almost died Dipper, I almost lost you once already, why would you want to do that to me? You were supposed to be better…"

"You don't understand Mabel-"

"I don't understand?! Like hell I don't, like I don't have stress Dipper? I have school too, I have work, and friends, and drama, just like you, but I would never try to kill myself because of it, I would never do that to you!"

"That's not why I did it."

"What…?" she asked dumbstruck.

"The stress stuff, that's not why I did it, that was just bullshit I told the doctor so they would stop asking me questions, so they would just leave me alone."

"Why would you lie about that? You have to tell them what's going on in your head Dip, or else they can't help you."

"They can't help me Mabel, no one can help me, and no one can know what's in my head, I don't even want to believe it."

"It can't be that horrible Dipper, whatever it is you can tell me, I'm your sister, we're two halves of each other."

"That's the problem, you're the one person who I want to tell the most, but I can't…"

"Why can't you? Please?" she took his hands in her.

"No" he said flatly, and pulled his hands away, took a step back and turned his back to her.

Now tears did well up in Mabel's eyes, as sadness, anger, and confusion all collided and clashed inside of her.

"Why are you keeping this from me? I thought we told each other everything, you're being a selfish jerk! I understand you're going through alot right now, but that's no reason to treat me like some stranger you need to keep secrets from!"

"You don't understand Mabel-"

"Shut up Dipper! Just shut up, okay? Because I DO know what you're going through, I know what loneliness feels like, and solitude, and coldness, I know because that's what I've been feeling for the past eight months, since you were put in the hospital, I've just felt like half a person without you, and you tried to leave forever, and now you're trying it again and you can't even tell me why!" Mabel was screaming now, tears pouring down her face, but no one could hear her up there anyway, except Dipper.

"Fine, do you want to know why?"

"Yes! For the love of God yes!"

"Because I'm in love with you Mabel."

"You- you're what?" every emotion suddenly didn't matter to her, the world stopped dead.

"That's right, I'm in love with you Mabel. I know it's wrong, and I know I shouldn't, but I can't help what I feel. I thought at first the feelings would just go away, all I had to do was ignore them, but they didn't, they just got stronger and stronger until I just couldn't take it anymore Mabel. I couldn't stand going through my day, seeing you, knowing that it was all pointless, I couldn't stand life. So I tried to kill myself, because going through life without being able to express my love to you was just too hard to bare. So what was I supposed to tell the doctors, I love my sister? They'd keep me in that hospital permanently, or prison, or I don't know what. That would have been the worst fate of all, living out the rest of my life in confinement, torturing myself over my feelings for you, I'd sooner take death to that."

Mabel was struggling to process everything happening in that moment. Dipper was in love with her? How could that be? He was always just so innocently nice, caring, sweet, but that was exactly it, wasn't it? That WAS love. Once again anger, sadness, and confusion fought bitterly within her. Anger, anger over this situation, how could he be so selfish to think he could just escape from all of this, how could he not have told her, what was wrong with him? These were all primal and initial reactions, but then sadness took over. Sadness over his suffering, his true loneliness, loneliness she really couldn't understand, having absolutely no one to turn to, especially not the one person who he wanted to turn to most. Then confusion, was this real, was it happening, what was she supposed to do, to say, how do you react to your twin brother telling you he loves you? Then something else suddenly grew in the mix of emotions, something that hadn't been there before. It started as a low warmth in the very deepest part of her chest, and slowly grew. Love. How could she have been so blind, so ignorant of her own feelings, had they always been there? Had she simply ignored them or wrote them off as something else? Suddenly she knew exactly what to do.

She grabbed Dipper by the shoulders and pulled him into her, and their lips met. They kissed deeply, a kiss filled with the anger, and the passion, and the sadness, and the understanding that their two souls had suddenly reached together. It was the joining of two halves into a whole, and it set Mabel's heart on fire. She melted into his embrace, and in that moment the world fell away, and nothing mattered, except one thing, the one thing that had always given her life meaning, and she was too blind to see the true meaning of it all until now.

 _Dipper._

 **A/N Hello all! It's me the author! Very sorry if this one was too long, but I really thought the first one was too short and I wanted to give you guys a lot of really good content to enjoy. Apparently I have a fanbase of SEVERAL now that are waiting for my work so I don't want to disappoint. Please let me know what you think! Don't be shy! Tell me if it's awesome (or terrible) if there was too much dialogue or not enough, or if it sounded natural, heck, ask me whatever you want, even about my cats! I love feedback, I love talking to people who enjoy my work, and I love it when people enjoy it! Also, if you have any friends that you think would be interested in this story, send it their way pleeeeease, I would love to spread this around to more people. Thanks you're the best! Sorry about all the exclamation points, but I was actually pretty excited about finishing this chapter. Again thank you so much for taking the time to read my story, I truly appreciate it.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**18**_

 _What the fuck is wrong with me?_

Dipper stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, probing the depths of his eyes, as if he expected the answer to present itself. He groaned in frustration and turned away from his reflection. Putting his back to the wall he slid to the floor. He cupped his face in his hands and fought back tears. _Why can't I just be normal?_

"Dipper," Grunkle Stan's voice forced Dipper to ponder the answer another time. "Hey Dip, Mabel is here, can you come help get her bags?" he called from the living room.

Another summer in Gravity Falls, Dipper was less than enthusiastic about it. Last summer Dipper had finally admitted his hidden love for Mabel, the love that had been eating him alive inside for 2 years, and she had kissed him! It was like nothing he had ever experienced, it had been absolute bliss. He still dreamed about that kiss. Sometimes he wondered if that kiss had even been real, and not simply one of his dreams. But it was real, he knew it was, because that kiss haunted him. Just when his life seemed to have some kind of meaning, and things finally felt normal, it was ripped away from him.

Mabel had kissed HIM, but she had also been the one to stop it. She was conflicted, unsure what to do about the situation. She said the kiss was just her acting on impulse. Dipper knew better, he had felt that kiss, he had felt the same love he felt for Mabel in her lips, in the way she fell into his arms, it was not impulse. Ever since then things had been a struggle with Mabel. She was constantly on the fence with what to do about their relationship. Every time she seemed on the verge of returning Dipper's feelings, she would change her mind and go back to thinking.

On top of it all the past year had been the busiest year either of them had ever really had. With the last year of high school both twins were busy with college applications and visits, work, and tons of schoolwork. Dipper had a huge class load of advanced placement courses, and Mabel had been scrambling to put together a fantastic portfolio to present to the art schools she was applying to. As a result of all of it, the twins barely had any time to spend just the two of them, which prevented them from really being able to sit down and discuss their situation. The only times where neither of them were swamped with stuff to do was on school breaks, and even then they spent a lot of time with family, or working. It didn't help that Dipper was pretty sure Mabel had avoided him a few times when they could have talked.

Then spring break had come around, and Dipper crossed his fingers that it would finally be the time he could confront Mabel about her feelings. Mabel had other plans. Some friends had invited her to Florida for spring break, and she gladly went, leaving Dipper at home to spend the whole break sulking. He had barely even seen Mabel since then. Over the break he began volunteering for Habitat for Humanity to try and get his mind off Mabel and do something productive, so he filled most of his free time with that. It had paid off for his self-esteem. With all the heavy physical work he had gotten pretty toned in the last few months, and he wasn't embarrassed to look at himself in the mirror, or at least, not at his body, it was looking at his personality that he hated.

With a sigh he got up from the bathroom floor and made his way to the living room. Dad, Grunkle Stan, and Mabel were all outside talking about something, and Mabel's bags were all in the center of the living room floor. Dipper scooped them all up without a word and carried them all up to the attic, setting them down gently onto Mabel's bed. He then stretched out onto his bed and started reading a book. After several minutes he heard Mabel coming up the stairs, his heart started beating faster, but he tried to keep his composure and just read. She came into their room and closed the door behind her.

"Hey Dip," she said quietly.

"Hey," he said without looking up from his book.

"Thank you for bringing my bags up, you didn't have to take them all on your own.

"Don't mention it," he said, trying to sound nonchalant, he certainly didn't feel that way inside.

"We haven't really gotten to hang out for a while…" she said, sitting down on the end of his bed. She placed a hand on his shin. _God I hope she can't tell my hands are shaking._

"Yeah, I've been busy, how was spring break?" he asked with a little more bitterness than he had intended. Mabel's face changed to a look of obvious hurt. He couldn't help his tone, because he knew exactly how spring break had gone. He had seen pictures on Mabel's Facebook page, her surrounded by all these popular looking jock guys. Especially this one guy Charlie, he was in most of the pictures, and in some they were a little closer than Dipper would have found comfortable considering how things were between the two of them. _She's better off with a guy like him anyway, at least he's normal._

"I'm sorry Mabel," he said as he put the book down and sat up in bed," I- I didn't mean to hurt your feelings…"

"No, it's alright, I understand that you're upset, especially after what happened with spring break, and I know I haven't made this really easy on you, I just- I can't seem to make up my mind on what's right."

She knew what was right, Dipper knew that she knew. That wasn't the problem, she knew what she wanted she just didn't know if she had the courage to pursue those feelings, because she was scared, scared of how things would turn out. Dipper knew because he had gone through the same thing. The only difference was that Mabel had discovered these feelings only a year ago, Dipper had been fighting with it in his mind for the past three years, and he finally accepted his feelings. That was why he hadn't tried to push Mabel into anything for the past year; he understood what she was going through, and as much as it killed him to basically be back in the same position as he had been before he had told Mabel his feelings, he knew it was necessary. He could wait. He had waited this long, he would wait forever for Mabel if he had to…

"I know it's difficult Mabel," he said, "take your time to think about it, but you know how I feel."

"I know, and I'm not sure if that makes things harder or easier, I- I feel something for you Dipper, but I just don't want to say I feel the same way if I don't and break your heart."

"Mabel, I know that it's hard to decide because you don't want to make the wrong choice, but… making me wait is breaking my heart, I would rather just have an answer… even if the answer is no."

"I can't say no Dip, because I'm not convinced that it's a 'no'."

"I know."

"You do?"

"Of course I do, you're my other half, I went through the same thing for the past three years, and I know that you feel the same way."

"How…?"

"I don't know, I just do, I feel it in my heart."

"Dipper I-"

"I love you Mabel, and I know you love me too."

"I do love you Dip… but I don't know if it's in the same way."

"Then let me show you."

He gently brushed a lock of Mabel's beautiful mahogany hair away from her face to behind her ear. In the same motion he ran his fingers through the hair that rested on her back, pulling her face close to his. His lips were only inches away from hers now.

""Dipper, what are you doing?" she asked as she tried to catch her breath.

"Loving you Mabel."

"But I-"

"Tell me to stop Mabel, just… tell me to stop," he whispered as his forehead rested on hers. Mabel said nothing, her eyes only fluttered as if she were dreaming. He kissed her. Those lips, he kissed those lips, lips as soft as the hair that was flowing through his fingers, lips as soft as flower petals. He opened his eyes to look at Mabel, but her eyes were rolled back in ecstasy, so he just closed his and absorbed that moment. He took a slow, deep breath through his nose, taking in everything his senses could. The smell of Mabel's hair, the feeling of her trembling as he put his hand on her waist, then slowly moved it up her side to rest on her shoulder blade, the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears, the sound of Mabel's unsteady breaths, and the taste, the taste of her lips, those satin lips pressed against his. Perfection. Everything in that moment was perfection. Until Mabel pulled away.

"Dipper, no," she got up, "I can't do this right now, I have to think and seeing you is just-" she looked at him sadly, he could see the conflict in her eyes, but also the desire. "I have to think…" Mabel repeated as she walked out of the room, leaving Dipper alone on the his bed, with the taste of Mabel still on his lips.

For the rest of the day Dipper didn't see Mabel at all. He could only assume she was off somewhere around town trying to figure things out. He felt stupid, he didn't want to pressure Mabel, but he was so sure she felt the same way, and he had thought kissing her would finally help her reach the final decision. _Maybe I just made things worse._ He spent the day in his bed, either half-heartedly reading or just lying on his side staring at the wall. Who was he kidding, Mabel didn't want him, she didn't want him because Dipper was Dipper. He was awkward, and quiet, and introverted. He wasn't one of the guys that Mabel and her friends liked to hang out with, he didn't even look like them, let alone act like them. He could love Mabel all he wanted, but he could never be like that. Depression set in. Dipper cried for a long while, resting on his bed in fetal position, until he couldn't cry any more tears, so he just laid there and continued sobbing quietly. After a few hours he calmed down, the crying stopped, but the sadness didn't. Mabel was going to say no, he had kissed her and she had walked away, how could he have been so wrong? Maybe Mabel and he had lost touch more than he thought.

She returned home late. Dipper heard Mabel take a shower then go back downstairs. After half an hour he heard her soft footsteps coming up the attic stairs. She opened the door and closed it silently behind her, Dipper didn't turn in bed to look at her, he just stayed facing the wall. He was afraid more tears would come, but he didn't have any more in him. It was a good thing, he didn't want Mabel to see him crying anyway. She took a few steps toward his bed.

"Dipper?" she whispered.

"Yeah-" he cleared his throat, it was hoarse from all the crying, "yeah?" It came out a little less rough, but he still felt it in his throat.

"Were you sleeping?"

"No."

"Oh, Stan asked me to come check on you because you didn't come down to have dinner."

"I told him I wasn't hungry."

"I know, he told me, he- he was just worried about you Dip."

"He doesn't have to, everything's fine," he lied.

"I thought we told each other the truth Dip?"

"Yeah… that hasn't been working out so well for me lately…"

"Are you saying you won't tell me the truth anymore?"

"Just leave me alone Mabel."

"Fine," she said angrily, "I came back to talk to you but I guess you're not ready to."

"Where did you even go?" Dipper got up from the bed, "You left me here alone for hours."

"I went to think things through Dipper, I called someone for advice."

"Was it Charlie?" Dipper asked, putting a tone of disgust in the name.

"Charlie? Why would I call Charlie?"

"I saw your Facebook pictures Mabel, you and him seemed pretty close."

"For your information I haven't spoken to him since spring break, are you jealous of him or something?"

"Yes," he said reluctantly after a moment, "Yeah I am jealous."

"Why would you be jealous of him?"

"Why wouldn't I be? He clearly has your attention, he looks better than me, he isn't in love with his sister, he's the kind of guy you'd want. Someone to go out with, someone who like like to do the things you like to do, someone you won't be embarrassed to be around with."

"Oh so now you just know what I want?" Mabel asked, her tone sharp.

"Yes I do."

"Well clearly you don't know everything I want," she shouted, "because I don't want Charlie, I want you!"

"What?!" he asked, shocked and upset.

"You heard me."

"Then prove it!"

"Fine!"

At once both of them took a step toward each other and locked into an aggressive kiss. It was filled with anger and passion, and Dipper couldn't get enough of it. He ran his hands up Mabel's back and through her thick hair, she wrapped her hands around the sides of his neck, pulling his face further into the kiss. Mabel pushed him forward and they fell back onto Dipper's bed together, lips never separating. She got on top of him and straddled his waist. The kissing intensified. His heart was beating like a jackhammer, and both of them were breathing heavily.

"I'm so sorry- I kept you waiting- all this time-" Mabel said to him in the few seconds they broke their kisses to catch some air.

"It's okay- worth the wait-" he answered in the same fashion. He moved his lips down and began to kiss Mabel's neck.

"I love you Dipper," she said with a sigh of pleasure.

"Do you?" he stopped and looked Mabel in the eyes.

"Yes," she said with a smile, "Yes I do. I love you so much Dipper."

"I love you too Mabel," he said, fighting back tears of joy this time, "with all of my heart. Thank you."

He kissed her again, and wrapping his arms around her he flipped them both around so that Mabel lay on her back with Dipper above her. He began kissing her neck, slowly moving lower and lower down to her collarbone. Mabel ran her fingers through his hair and moaned softly. She brought her hands down his back and started removing his shirt. _No holding back, this is it._ He raised himself up and removed his shirt for her.

"Um, what's this?" she stopped, cracking a wry smile as she looked at his faintly chiselled chest, running her fingers down from his pecs to his abs.

"Oh, uh-" he said blushing, not used to Mabel touching him in that way, "it's from volunteering… I've been getting a workout I guess."

"And you were jealous of Charlie's looks why?" she laughed.

"I don't know, I figured he looked better because he played sports or something, plus he seemed like the type of person you'd want to be around."

"The only person I want anything to do with right now is you," she said, caressing his jaw with her fingertips.

"What about later?" he asked, half jokingly, half genuinely.

"I don't care what happens later, as long as I get to be there with you."

They smiled at one another, and Dipper bent down for another kiss, while at the same time reaching his hands down to Mabel's waist and removing her sweater. They continued in this manner, each removing some of the other's clothing, all the while exchanging kisses, until neither of them had anything on. The room was dark, and in the moonlight leaking in through the window Dipper could just barely make out Mabel's body. He decided instead to use touch, running his hands up and down every curve, appreciating her beauty without his eyes. It was both of their first times, and their lovemaking was sweet and clumsy, as with any pair of new lovers only discovering each others' bodies. It wasn't any less special, or amazing, for Dipper nothing in his life had ever felt so good. For the first time in three years he felt complete. All the sadness, all the pain, and all the suffering was washed away in Mabel's breath on his skin, in her hair between his fingers, and in the loving words she whispered softly in his ears. Nothing else mattered, the world could have ended for all he cared, the thing he loved most was wrapped in his arms, and was his and only his to experience.

The morning sun woke Dipper as it shone in his eyes. Mabel and he were still laying like they had when they had fallen asleep, wrapped in one another's arms. He looked down to see her resting her head on his chest, soft breaths tingling his skin by her nose. He gently stroked the top of her head, careful not to wake her.

"I love you," he whispered, and closed his eyes to fall back asleep. If this was a dream then he didn't want it to end. With Mabel's presence and her warm body against his he had no trouble finding the real dreams. Whether in reality or in his dreams, it didn't matter, because for Dipper, both were filled with the same beautiful thing.

 _Mabel._

 **A/N: Hey kiddies! Wow, three chapters in a week, some great progress. No one complained about the length of the last one so I went ahead and made this one even longer! I really hope you enjoyed it, romance writing is new territory for me so I hope I'm getting the proper emotions and stuff across here. Please let me know what you think, I'm really enjoying the feedback and reactions so keep em coming! Also, I made a tumblr to keep you fine folks up to date on things. Look me up (Encalamah) and follow me if you're interested in getting updates on this and all my future writings, it will be completely sfw so don't worry about having my posts show up on your feed. Follow me please I need you guys to give my writing some purpose! ^3^ Also then you guys can ask me questions and such much more easily via the tumblr ask system. Thank you guys for all the support and keep your eyes peeled for more stuff from yours truly!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**19**_

 _Are we there yet?_

Mabel sat with her chin on her hand, staring out the passenger's side window of the car at the traffic whizzing by. They had been in the car for hours and it seemed like the trip was never going to end. Finally she couldn't hold in her boredom any longer and groaned out loud in frustration, turned forward, and stared out the windshield with a pouty face. Something brushing against her cheek made her turn, and before she realized what had happened Dipper's lips were pressed against hers. She closed her eyes and her frustration melted away. After a few moments she couldn't feel his kiss anymore, she opened her eyes to see that he was driving again, although he was smiling and looking at her sidelong. She blushed and smiled a little bit as she sunk back into her seat.

"Dipper you're driving," she said, a little embarrassed.

"I know, I'm just enjoying the fact that I can do that now," he said smugly.

"Well don't go doing it too much or it might get old," she poked him in the cheek and stuck out her tongue. Once again Dipper went in for a kiss, but this time he stuck his tongue out to, and they both met in Mabel's mouth. Before she could really start to enjoy it after the initial shock, Dipper pulled away again. He put his lips to her ear and whispered.

"Never."

As he went back to driving she took his hand in hers, and they both smiled. Mabel sighed in contentment. This trip could last another few hours for all she cared. This summer was beginning on a different note. For one thing the twins were driving themselves around now, thanks to a joint birthday gift they had received from their parents, a car to share. Mabel had used it most, since she was more social, and Dipper hadn't minded anyway, and this year they were going to take it to Gravity Falls. First though, they were taking it on a bit of a road trip. One of Dipper's favorite bands, Tool, was on tour and were making a stop in Seattle, so Dipper got tickets for both of them and had convinced Mabel to come along. She didn't care much about the music, she was just looking forward to spending time with Dipper.

With both of them off at college this year they hadn't gotten too much time together, which was difficult for two people who had finally acknowledged their love for one another. They had been near inseparable during all of their school breaks, but it had been hard to find time alone. The summer was going to be a different story, and Mabel had been dying for it to start. They were going to start it off on a high note. It wasn't really the concert she was excited for, it was being able to spend the night at a hotel together afterwards, before driving to Gravity Falls tomorrow. Mabel wasn't really the super lusting type, but would have been lying if she had said she didn't have a few Dipper fantasies during the car ride. She was just insanely in love. Thinking back to how hard the decision had been for Mabel in the first place, she couldn't even imagine how she had been so dumb as to deny those feelings, she had never felt better. She laced her fingers in between Dippers and squeezed his hand firmly.

"Everything okay Mabes?" Dipper asked concernedly.

"Everything is perfect," she laughed, "I love you Dip."

"I love you too Mabel," he smiled from ear to ear, "and good news, looks like we're here."

Getting to the concert wasn't the hard part, it was finding parking. After standing in a line of cars for about another half hour they managed to find a spot. They walked through the parking lot hand in hand. After a bit of a way pedestrian traffic started to increase, and Dipper wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him. Looking around she realized that she must have stood out like a sore thumb. With her purple sweater and red skirt in a sea of dark shades. She wasn't used to going to these types of concerts, she preferred things with a lot of lights and happy people, this place sort of scared her. She cuddled up closer to Dipper and wrapped her arms around him, but she still felt a little scared. As they got inside people packed in around them and the arena was filled with cheers and screams.

After another fifteen minutes the opening band started, someone that Mabel had never heard of. It was pretty heavy, and Dipper didn't seem that into it either. Suddenly Mabel realized that Dipper was holding her hand, she hadn't even noticed until now. Had he been holding it this whole time? He must have been. Either way it made Mabel feel much better in an unfamiliar environment. After a half hour set, the opening band went offstage and the real concert began. Tool played a little softer than the last band most of the time, and there were times that Mabel was able to enjoy the music, but it really wasn't her cup of tea in the end. Dipper on the other hand seemed to be having a blast. Bopping along to the music, raising his hands, shouting and cheering, she had never seen him so expressive and free in public before. He looked at her questioningly, but she just smiled and raised her hands with him and started shouting as well.

This seemed to be enough for Dipper, and he immediately got back to enjoying the music. To Mabel's surprise, once she relaxed she really enjoyed the rest of the concert, and the time flew by. Before she knew it the band was wrapping up their set, and as they finished people began to slowly make their way out. Just as Dipper and Mabel were about to leave, a huge guy approached Mabel. He stank of alcohol and pot.

"Hey cutie, how bout comin' home with me tonight?" he slurred.

"Oh, um- no thanks," Mabel said quietly "I have somewhere to be."

"Come on," he insisted, "I'll show you a real fun time," he finished off the sentence with a belch.

"Hey!" Mabel heard someone shout behind her. She turned, along with everyone around them, to see that it was Dipper. "She said no, so back off."

"It's alright Dipper I-" Mabel started.

"Dipper?" the man scoffed, "More like Dipshit, heh, I'm sure I could show your girlfriend a much better time that you little boy. You gonna start something?"

The man took a step forward and drunkenly threw a right hook at Dipper, missing completely. He really was huge, twice as big as Dipper, and pretty well built. Without any sign of fear, nervousness, nothing, Dipper took two steps forward and socked the guy in the stomach. The giant doubled over and fell onto his knees, clutching at his stomach. He opened an eye and glared at Dipper in hatred. Dipper just swung again and threw the guy to the ground with one hit to the jaw. A few moments later security stormed in and took the huge man, Dipper, and Mabel away to the security office. They had an ambulance pick up the drunk man, and had a talk with Dipper. After determining that he had acted in self-defense they agreed to release him. By now the parking lot was basically empty, everyone had cleared out in the time they were in the security office.

"Well," Dipper said as they walked to the car, "at least we don't have to deal with traffic now."

"Dip, you just- you floored that guy, just like that," Mabel said in amazement.

"Well sure, he was being super inappropriate, and making you feel uncomfortable, and he did swing at me."

"Weren't you scared?"

"Of course I was!" he laughed, "Terrified, but I had to protect you Mabes, no matter how scared I was."

They walked the rest of the way to the car in silence, holding hands. As they reached the car, Dipper took out the keys and accidentally dropped them. "Dammit" he huffed and bent down to start looking for them in the dark. Mabel offered help but he said it was alright, so she decided to talk a little stroll while she waited. She didn't notice the man walking up behind her until he was right beside her. She turned in surprise.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he raised his hands to show everything was alright.

"Can I help you?" Mabel asked, still unsure about the situation.

"I just wanted to say that I saw what your boyfriend did in there, and I wanted you to let him know that he's a really awesome guy. You're lucky to have someone like that, who looks out for you."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Mabel said, still confused.

"Anyway that was all, sorry again," he turned to see a bus pulling up nearby, "Hey, that's my ride, I've gotta go, bye, thanks for coming.

"Bye," Mabel said as the man walked away, "You're welcome?"

"Holy shit Mabel, do you know who that was?" Dipper asked when she got back to the car and described the man to him.

"No? Do you?" she asked puzzled.

"Uh, ya? That was Maynard freakin Keenan, Tool's vocalist, what did he say to you?"

"He just thanked me for coming," Mabel smiled, "And said I'm lucky to have a boyfriend like you." She grabbed him around the waist and kissed him. Dipper stopped and looked at her.

"Boyfriend huh?" he smiled too, then kissed her back.

The ride to the hotel was fairly quiet. Mabel was lost in her thoughts. Dipper really did look after her. Even all those years ago before he even had feelings for her, he was there. Thinking about it she realized there were so many times he had acted protective of her, even in the most subtle ways, but they were still there. Certainly she had never expected Dipper to rise to the occasion like he had tonight. It was so unlike his personality to act so outwardly. He had really showed that guy, he was stronger than he let on, and he was protective. Mabel felt safe with him around, and something else, attracted, really, really attracted to him. She never thought that something like that would make her attracted to someone, she was always so independent, but maybe having someone to depend on once in awhile was exactly what she wanted subconsciously. The Dipper fantasies came back.

They checked into their hotel and reached their room, nothing fancy, but very nice, Mable could tell it had costed more than the tickets had. They laid their bags on the ground and Mabel fell back into the queen sized bed and giggled as she bounced. She looked over to see Dipper removing his shirt, revealing his now well toned physique. He had continued volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, and it showed. He really seemed to enjoy the work. Mabel was enjoying the effects.

"Well hello there mister," she said slyly, biting her lip as she took in the view.

"Oh, sorry" Dipper said, blushing as he put his shirt down to cover his chest, "I was just going to take a quick shower to wash the concert off me."

"Well don't take too long, and I'll go after you," she said with a wink.

Dipper closed the bathroom door and she heard the water in the shower running. After a few minutes she had an idea and decided to act on it. She quietly crept into the bathroom and undressed, climbing into the shower as well.

"Mabel! Wha-" Dipper shouted in surprise, but she cut him off with a kiss. He didn't seem to mind, as he brought her into an embrace, and they held each other, kissing while the warm water poured over both of them. Dipper's quick shower ended up being an hour, as he and Mabel enjoyed every moment of alone time they were having. They came out of the bathroom refreshed with only towels covering them. As Dipper sat down on the bed and started drying his hair with a small towel, Mabel walked over to the window and slid the shades closed. With the privacy maximized, she turned around and dropped the towel from around her body. Dipper looked at her with his eyes wide and mouth hanging open. He didn't need to say anything, they were in love, and that was all that needed to be known.

Mabel straddled Dipper's hips as she pushed him down onto the bed, kissing him. They were filled with lust and her lips furiously fought with his to express their affection. Time seemed to slow and Mabel took over the situation. They started off slowly as they both tried to reach a rhythm, building until they both reached the climax at the same time. They laid back in bed panting side by side. After only a few minutes Mabel got back up and kissed Dipper on the chin and made her way down to his waist.

"Whoa, what're you doing there Mabes?" he asked nervously, face red as a beet.

"I think my protector deserves a reward," Mabel gave him a wry smile.

They didn't go to sleep until the early hours of the morning, wrapped in one another's' arms, perfectly satisfied and content. Mabel had dreams of Dipper, and when she woke once in the night, she listened to his breathing and heartbeat until she fell asleep again. In the morning the sun shone in through a small gap in the shutters and onto their faces. They both awoke and exchanged a kiss, but they didn't get out of bed. They simply remained lying together and enjoyed their time alone. Neither of them knew what time it was, and neither of them cared to check. After some time Mabel decided to voice her thoughts.

"Dip… will we always be together?"

"Well yeah," he answered, sounding a bit confused by her question, "we're twins, why wouldn't we be?"

"But I mean **together** , together, like this."

"Oh, well don't you want to be?"

"Yes. I do," she said as she looked up to see Dipper's face since her head was resting against his chest.

"Me too," he smiled.

"I love you Dipper, but I miss you too, all the time… I don't like being away from you."

"I know, and I love you too Mabel, and I hate being apart, but it's only while we're at school, and we're already done with one year."

"Yeah…"

"Weeeell."

"Well what?" Mabel asked, her attention suddenly caught completely.

"Well how about I look into transferring to a school closer to you?"

"Really?!" her eyes lit up with joy, "You'd do that?"

"Of course, anything for you Mabel."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you!" she grabbed his face with both hands and gave him a kiss upside down while still laying on his chest.

"You're welcome sis" he laughed, "as long as it makes you happy."

"But does it make **you** happy?"

"If I get to see you more then yes."

She searched in his eyes for any sign of doubt, but there wasn't any. He was serious, Mabel could tell when he was lying. She sat up in bed and gave him another kiss. They went down and had breakfast together, then checked out and packed the car to make their way to Gravity Falls. This summer was looking to be an amazing one, and it had already started with some great news, Mabel wouldn't have to spend so long from Dipper anymore, and that was all that she could think of.

 _Dipper._

 **A/N: Hey folks! Sorry about the wait with this one, my past few days has been "busy for 20+ hours, sleep for 3-4 hours, rinse and repeat". Being an adult sucks. Anywho, here it is, it's a bit shorter than the last one, and a bit more graphic, but I thought that was a good development to have, let me know if you disagree. I wanted to change up the setting as well a little bit, so just in general let me know about this one since I think it's the most different from the other chapters. Once again make sure to follow me on tumblr for story updates and such. Thank you all again for reading and supporting my work, I appreciate all of you!**


	5. Chapter 5

_**20**_

 _Well at least it's not snowing_

Dipper wrapped the scarf around his face a bit tighter, silently being thankful for Mabel's enjoyment of crafts. If she hadn't knitted him the incredibly warm scarf, the Chicago winter would've been unbarable. That's right, Chicago. Dipper followed through on his promise to transfer schools in order to be closer to Mabel, and so now he was here. Mabel attended Columbia for her art studies, so Dipper had moved to DePaul to continue his degree in Human Services. He could see why Mabel liked it here so much, Chicago was a great place for creative people like her. The Chicago Bean, the Art Institute, the zoo. Well, maybe not so much the last one, although she _did_ love the zoo… And the aquarium, and the planetarium, and the Field Museum, heck she had a blast here, and honestly, Dipper did too. He had a lot of fun doing all that stuff with Mabel, and having their own apartment all to themselves was _amazing_ to say the least. The only thing Dipper still had a problem with was the winter. It was already February and it was still insanely cold, he couldn't understand how people did it all the time, at least by now the snow was lessened, but the freezing temperatures seemed like they were never going to end.

He reached the bus stop and stood waiting. Their apartment was fairly close to both of their campuses, but Dipper was not about to walk home in this. They still had the car for driving, but living downtown meant traffic was pretty bad, and so public transportation was the way to go most days. He slid his sleeve up and checked his watch, he was getting home a bit later than usual today, hopefully Mabel wouldn't be upset. Sometimes he wondered if it was crazy how much he cared about Mabel, and then he remembered he didn't care if it was crazy, just like he didn't care if he got weird looks on the bus about his purple and neon green striped scarf, because he loved it, he loved it as much as he loved the wonderful angel who had knitted it for him, so nothing was going to stop him from wearing it, and nothing would stop him from always caring. How do you just stop caring about your everything, the thing that literally gave your life meaning? In Dipper's case that could not have been more true, without Mabel's love he would be dead, or possibly being treated in a series of mental institutions. He liked this outcome better.

Maybe it was just his experiences that really made him appreciate what he had. He always went the extra mile to show it to Mabel. He loved to cook for her, he never hesitated to drop everything and help her with something if she needed it, he was always happy to pick up something from the store, no matter how small, and he did his fair share of cleaning. Most of Mabel's friends were always in awe when they saw how he treated her. It got Dipper into some trouble with their boyfriends as well, who didn't much like being compared to some other guy. Well maybe they just didn't get it, or maybe he was just weird, but either way he wasn't planning on changing.

The bus arrived and snapped Dipper out of his thoughts. He got on, paid, and took his seat by one of the windows. The evening rush was over by now, and the bus was pretty empty, relatively speaking, it was still the city after all. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he took it out. It was a call from Marcel, the regional director for Habitat for Humanity.

"Hello?" Dipper said as he accepted the call.

"Hey Dipper, it's Marcel!"

"Hey Marcel, what's up?"

"I was just making sure you got those permits taken care of for the work on Clark, we wanna start putting the roofing on asap."

"Yeah I took care of it today actually, they should be ready within this week."

"Great, thanks for that Dipper, that's a load off my shoulders. Anyway, sorry to bother you kind of late but that was important, I'll be scheduling the delivery for the roofing stuff tomorrow."

"It's alright, I'm just on my way home."

"Alright, well I'll let you get home then, and I'll be seeing you soon I'm sure, have a good night."

"You too, bye," he hung up.

After being with Habitat for so many years Dipper had enough experience that he was now a site supervisor, it was a lot more logistical type stuff than hands on work, but he still tried to squeeze some of that in too. He still really enjoyed the work in any case. After those years of feeling miserable with himself and pining (boom pun! Sorry…) over Mabel, it felt good to just make other people happy, and giving them a place to live sure made people happy. His phone vibrated again, a text this time.

'Where are ya cutie?' Dipper couldn't help but smile at his phone as he read Mabel's message.

'On my way, almost home' he sent in response, then after a few moments he sent a second text.

'Beautiful'

After ten or so minutes the bus reached his stop and Dipper got off. It was another block walk to their building, once again Dipper thanked his scarf for existing. He unlocked the door and made his way up the stairs. Removing his keys he slid the house key into the lock and stepped inside. He almost tripped over the shoes laying by the door. The apartment was dark.

"Mabes? Are you home?" He called, puzzled over what was going on. There was no response. He made his way through the living room, following a slight glow that seemed to be coming from the kitchen.

"Hey Mabel? Did the power go out or something? You've got candles burning in the kitchen?" He stepped into the kitchen and saw a cake sitting on the table covered in candles. Before he could begin to understand what exactly was happening, a pair of familiar hands came around from behind him and covered his eyes.

"So I'm beautiful am I?" Mabel whispered in his ear.

"Of course you are," Dipper smiled as he reached behind him and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her up against his back, "the most beautiful."

"Oh you are a smooth one," she joked as she moved her hands off his eyes and wrapped her arms around his chest, "always know how to make me swoon, eh bro-bro?"

"Actually I think I'm the one that swoons, oh no!" Dipper cried as he started bending backwards pretending to faint, he rested his head on Mabel's shoulder and planted a sideways kiss on her cheek. She turned her head and returned his kiss on the lips.

"I missed you today," she said matter of factly.

"Well I miss you _all the time_ ," he teased.

"I miss you all the time too! I just-"

"I know what you meant Mabes," he laughed, "don't worry! Now, do you wanna tell me what sort of master plan you've cooked up in here?" He gestured toward the table, and cake sitting on it.

"Well," she made her way over to the table, "happy half birthday!" She gave a big smile and waved her hands in front of the cake in a sort of presenting gesture.

"Half birthday huh?" Dipper couldn't control the grin growing across his face. "That's really sweet Mabel."

"But not as sweet as this cake! Let's dig in, it's a flippin ice cream cake!"

Without protest Dipper sat down at the table and they grabbed their forks. First Mabel pulled out all the candles, twenty regular ones, and one cut to half the normal length, she thought of everything. They devoured the cake without remorse. Mabel had no end to her appetite for sweets, but Dipper could give her a run for her money if he wanted to, and tonight he was perfectly content on having a whole dinner consisting of nothing but cake. Midway through the cake Mabel's face lit up as she remembered something.

"Presents!" She shouted with a mouthful of cake.

"Presents?" Dipper raised an eyebrow. Mabel bolted out of the kitchen and came back a minute later with her hands behind her back, and a smile on her face. Dipper mirrored the smile in expectation of what the gift could be. She brought her hands around and extended out her arms, revealing one of her homemade sweater, an ocean blue with half of a heart sewn onto the front.

"I love it Mabel!" His smiled widened as he took it in his hands, he wasn't one for sweaters, but if Mabel made it for him he was going to wear it and love every minute of it."

"Do you really?!" She exclaimed with glee.

"Are you kidding? Of course I do! That's so thoughtful, but why half a heart?" He asked as he slid it over the top of his head. He was chilly after eating the ice cream cake, so a sweater was just what he needed.

"That's the best part!" Mabel lifted her sweater to reveal a second one underneath, the one with the other half of the heart on it. "We match!" She practically squealed.

"This is amazing Mabel," Dipper said, then suddenly he noticed a problem and an expression of worry grew on his face.

"What's wrong Dip?" Mabel asked, immediately concerned.

"It's just that… I didn't get you anything" Dipper answered sadly.

"Oh…" Mabel seemed to get down for a moment, before her eyes lit up again, "hmmm" she ran out of the kitchen again, upon returning she walked over to Dipper and say down in his lap. She slapped a little red bow on top of his head.

"You're my present!" She yelled, snuggling up to him with a big hug. Dipper smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you so much Mabel," he said softly.

"I love you too big talking gift," Mabel answered with her head still on his chest.

"I'm still going to figure out something you know, I'll make it up to you."

"Oh yeah?" Mabel asked, raising her head with a sly smile, "are you gonna manhandle me later?" She rose up and made a little pose, and gave Dipper a bigger smile.

"That's not what- I mean- I didn't-" Dipper fumbled over his words as his face turned redder and redder, "I mean, we can- I just- it _would_ be amazing but I wasn't-" Mabel silenced him with a finger on his lips.

"Relax bro, I was just messing with you," she assured, "although judging by how your friend there feels maybe I should've meant it," she smiled as she looked down at his pants. Dipper didn't think his face could turn any redder.

"Before we have any kind of sexy fun though," she reached over to the counter, "movie night!" She shouted as she held up the case. Dipper exhaled, relieved they were changing the subject, he never understood why he got nervous about it when Mabel teased him. It's not like they never had sex, and Dipper had taken the initiative on it plenty of times, it was just sort of more situational for him, otherwise he just got uncomfortable.

"What movie?" He asked, trying to clear his mind and return his complexion back to a normal tone.

"Are you ready for the heartstopping awesomeness," Mabel began in a gruff sounding voice, "that is Robot Zombie Shark Attack?"

"Ah yes, a real Oscar contender I hear," he said, trying to sound snobby, they exchanged giggles, he was feeling like himself again.

They both sat down to finish the cake before starting the movie. After another fifteen minutes, with stomachs stuffed to the brim with cake, they sat down on the couch to start the film. It was your typical cheesy, low budget movie, but they loved stuff like that, they just laughed and made fun of it all the whole time. They watched a lot of other things too, but tonight felt like a good night for this. About halfway through, Mabel laid her head down on Dipper's lap and groaned as she stared at the ceiling.

"Ugh, too much cake!" She shouted, "Dipper, my tummy hurts…"

"Always," he said with a smirk, "well don't worry about it." He lifted her new matching heart sweater slightly and gently placed his hand on her stomach, rubbing it slowly in a small circle. Mabel gave a sigh of relief and closed her eyes. Dipper continued to watch the movie, almost forgetting he was rubbing Mabel's stomach, it pretty much just came naturally to him by now. Any time she had stomach problems he would do this, there was a week where Mabel had a bad flu and for half the week it seemed like he was just laying in bed holding Mabel and just rubbing her belly. It always made her feel better, and he loved her, that's what you did when you loved someone. After a while the movie was wrapping up, and Dipper really noticed how long he had been at this, he checked his watch. _A whole hour?_ He looked down to discover that Mabel was fast asleep on his lap, he couldn't blame her. He smiled as he watched her sleep, it was always so cute, well, not always, sometimes it was just hilarious, mountains of hair strewn all over the place, arms thrown up in random positions, but Dipper still thought it was adorable.

"Hey Mabes?" He whispered in her ear almost inaudibly. All he got from Mabel was a sort of _hrumph_ , before she turned on her side and kept on sleeping. _Alright then._ Using the remote Dipper turned off the TV. Then ever so carefully he picked Mabel up in his arms and carried her slowly to the bedroom, making sure not to wake her. He lowered her onto the bed, removed her sweater and sweatpants, then put the blanket over her. He then removed his own sweater, folding both his and hers neatly together atop the dresser. He slipped on a t-shirt and crawled into bed next to Mabel, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. She didn't wake, but she nuzzled his arm gently as he laid her head down on it.

"Happy half birthday Mabel," he whispered, and kissed the top of her head, then laid his own head down to sleep. With a face full of Mabel hair he lay in bed thinking about what he could possibly do for Mabel as a present. He didn't mind the hair, it always smelled great, and it was so soft anyway, her beautiful umber hair was one of Dipper's favorite things. While enjoying the sweet scent and thinking, it suddenly hit him; sweet! He grabbed his phone and quickly set an alarm for the morning. Laying his head back down, he listened to the rhythmic sound of Mabel's breathing until he too fell asleep.

In the wee hours of the morning his alarm woke him up. Mabel slept like a rock, so she was fine. Making sure not to wake her as he got up and put on some clothes, he happily put on his new half birthday sweater. He made his way down to the nearby grocery store, in the city they were basically open all the time. Grabbing the ingredients he needed for his scheme he quickly hustled back home through the frigid dawn air. The new sweater made it much warmer. He reached the apartment and discovered Mabel still sound asleep, so he got to work right away. He was going to make breakfast á La Mabel, as he liked to call it. It was Mabel's favorite thing for him to make, but it was pretty time consuming, and had a lot of components, so it would have to be perfect.

First he started on the pancake batter. Chocolate chip pancakes with marshmallows, while he mixed it he put two pans on the stove to start heating up. Midway through the mixing he got an idea, and cut a piece of plastic that Mabel had lying around for one art thing or another, it was in the scrap bin so it was okay to use. He wrapped tinfoil around the strip of plastic to make sure it didn't melt, then shaped it into a heart and taped it. With the batter finished he put his mold on the pan and poured a bit of the batter in. While that cooked he started work on the honey bacon, and the maple sausages. The theme of this breakfast was just what Mabel liked best, lots of sweets. One by one he cooked the pancakes, all the while tending to the bacon and sausages, the trick was to cook them slowly on a very low flame, that way they really absorbed the sweetness. As a parting shot he decided to cook up some hash browns. He quickly peeled and grated the potatoes, and put them on the pan just as the last pancake was coming off, turning up the heat slightly he let them sit.

All in all the cooking took about an hour start to finish, but the result was well worth it. Before him on the table was set an impressive breakfast. He let himself enjoy a moment of self satisfaction. Mabel was going to freak. Unable to contain his excitement he snuck over to the bedroom.

"Mabel," he nudged her slightly, "hey Mabel."

"Ughnf," was the response he received.

"Come on Mabel, I've got a surprise for you."

One of Mabel's eyes opened slightly and looked at him intrigued. _Keep talking_ , it seemed to say.

"Come on down to the kitchen," Dipper said eagerly as he rushed off to make sure everything was one hundred percent ready.

After a few minutes Mabel stumped into the kitchen rubbing her eyes. As soon as she spotted everything set on the table her eyes shot open with surprise.

"Happy belated half birthday!" Dipper shouted as he motioned at the breakfast. A small smile formed on Mabel's lips that slowly grew into a wide grin. She ran over to Dipper sitting in a chair and threw her arms around him.

"Best. Present. Ever." She said sleepily. Without hesitation she sat down and began cramming food in her mouth. She was about to take a chunk out of the pancakes when she noticed the heart shape. "Aww, Dipper, that's so sweet, I feel bad for eating them."

"Don't be," he laughed, "that's why I made them, and don't worry, _they're_ even sweeter."

That was all Mabel needed, she continued to wolf down the food. For a while Dipper just watched her eating, finding happiness in the fact that she was enjoying what he had made so much. After a few minutes Mabel noticed he hadn't touched his food yet, she looked up from her plate with a puzzled expression.

"You gonna eat that?" She nodded toward his food.

"Yes I am," he said with a smile, "but if you keep eating like that you'll get another tummy ache and I'll have to make you feel better."

"I see nothing wrong with this," she said as she chewed. They both laughed.

"Mabel, I really love you," he said after a few moments of silence.

"I really love you too Dip," she said as she crunched on a piece of bacon, giving him a look as if all of this was incredibly obvious.

"No I mean… I _really_ love you, like, you mean everything to me." Mabel stopped eating and looked into his eyes. He wasn't sure why he felt like almost crying, but he did. Mabel gave him a big smile and took his hand from across the table.

"Gettin' sentimental on me there bro?" She joked.

"A little bit, yeah," he said, a little embarrassed.

"Well don't worry," Mabel assured him, "there's nothing wrong with that, I really do love you Dipper, but right now your amazing breakfast is calling to me and needs my undivided attention. Afterwards though," she winked, "we should meet up in the shower."

Dipper turned bright red again, but this time, he didn't stammer, or panic, or anything, he just decided to smile and be okay with it.

"Yeah, that sounds great," he said, squeezing her hand.

Dipper started on his breakfast and enjoyed the moment, just savoring everything. He eventually drifted back to watching Mabel. _I bet she thinks I'm such a dork for looking at her all the time_. The thought really didn't bother him though, he just loved her, and loved being around her. Mabel, the love of his life, his sister, his best friend, and his soul mate, the only thing that always made sense. To most people it would seem like insanity, but to Dipper, it was simply just love.

 _Mabel._

 **A/N: Hello citizens! Prepare for a long issue of My Thoughts magazine here, I have a bit to talk about this time. First off, as always, big thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, comments, favorites, follows my tumblr, and follows my works in general, it's really awesome and you guys are all awesome. Secondly, I apologize for the wait on this chapter, but I've been preoccupied with my Fallout story, and I kind of needed a bit of a break from this one since I thought the last chapter wasn't 100% my best work. The wait paid off though in my opinion, because this is one of my favorite, if not my favorite chapter so far, but please let me know what you think. Also, sorry if it's long, but I personally like long stories, and I don't like the idea of cutting up and separating chapters. Now, the business, you'll notice that this chapter didn't really have too much big character growth or development like the others did, this was for a reason. I really like this kind of cute little coupley vignette thingy SO, it's up to you guys here. I was thinking of putting chapters like this one in here and there to break up the whole main string of developments, BUT, if people don't want that I will make a separate story of all cute little vignettes set in this AU timeline thingy I have created. So if you haven't shared any opinion on this story yet but you are enjoying it then now is the time to have your voice heard, write a review, pm me, leave a comment, ask me on tumblr, whatever medium you want to use, but just let me know which direction you want to see, straight up story with little cute vignettes separately, or vignettes thrown in as sort of little intermissions. Thanks again for reading, and I look forward to your responses!**

 **-Encalamah**


	6. Chapter 6

_21_

 _Why sun? Why are you evil today?_

Mabel slowly opened her eyes and tried to focus on the ceiling as the sleep cleared from her vision. If it hadn't been for the sun shining in through the window onto her face she could have kept on sleeping like a happy camper, but no, the sun just had to go and do that. After a few moments of attempting to just ignore the sun and go back to sleep she decided she should probably get up. Slowly she rose to sit up in bed, and then the headache hit her.

"Jesus…" She said out loud, rubbing her temples, "this was a terrible idea. Well, at least we know we're never doing that again huh Dip?" She gave a half-hearted laugh and turned her head to see the spot beside her in the bed vacant. No Dipper.

"Dip?" She called as loudly as she could without making the headache worse. No one answered. She looked at the time and realized he must have already left for class.

"Bless you past Mabel, for taking afternoon classes," she said aloud as she rested her head in her hands. After about ten minutes she managed to get herself out of bed and into the kitchen. A smile formed as she noticed the breakfast Dipper had left on the table for her. She sat down and began to eat the eggs and bacon he had made for her, taking her time with it. He was always such a sweetheart, always so thoughtful and caring, god she loved him. She mused about how perfect everything was over a strip of bacon, she would take cold Dipper breakfast over having to make something herself any day, especially with a hangover like this.

Now that the twins were twenty-one and back at school for the junior year, they found themselves being invited to lots of parties at friends' apartments. So it was that last night they had decided to take up one such invitation, choosing to forego their usual night of schoolwork followed by a movie and cuddling which may or may not have resulted in spontaneous sexy-time, and as much as that sounded appealing to them both, Mabel had been excited about the party. Dipper had taken a bit of convincing, never being the overly social type, but after some prodding he had agreed to come to make sure Mabel was alright the whole night. That reason had just made Mabel all the happier, it was one of those great Dipper kind of things, choosing to go for her rather than for himself.

It was a good thing he had come, because Mabel seemed to have a problem with knowing her drink limit. She was learning her lesson now with a very non-fun hangover. On top of it she couldn't even remember most of the fun she _did_ have, as a majority of the night just seemed to be a blur in her mind. She seemed to vaguely recall something about Dipper asking her a question, but she couldn't remember the words, only his face, looking at her with concern, they were on the bus coming home. He was always worrying about things, maybe she had gotten sick or something. With her breakfast finished and Mabel unable to recollect anything else, she decided a shower was in order. She washed her plate, and before getting into the bathroom she sent Dipper a text.

'Thank you soooo much for the breakfast, you're the best, I love you!'

Just as with breakfast Mabel took her time with the shower. Her hair was pretty tangled from the party, and it smelled vaguely of something someone must have been smoking last night. After about twenty minutes she was satisfied with her hygienic state, and after vacating the shower she thoroughly brushed her teeth to get the lingering taste of alcohol and most likely vomit from out of her mouth. As she began to dress for the day she checked her phone, no answer from Dipper. She stopped as she thought about the situation, Dipper was usually pretty reliable about answering texts, _especially_ if they were from Mabel. He must have been taking a test or something, she decided to not bother him in that case and continue to wait for a response.

After an ibuprofin and a quiet ride on the bus Mabel's headache had subsided for the most part, and she arrived to her Advanced Painting class right on time. She took her usual spot and was greeted as always by her friend Kara.

"You look like shit," Mabel joked as she noticed the telltale signs of hangover all over her friend.

"That would explain why I feel like shit," Kara answered, attempting to joke along.

"I guess you must have had as much as I did last night," Mabel laughed.

"Could've fooled me," Kara said as she inspected Mabel's clean and refreshed self.

"Benefits of late classes!" Mabel smiled smugly.

"Heh, you're telling me," Kara said unamused, "hey, I hope you appreciate that sweetheart of a boyfriend of yours, he carried your butt out of that party last night."

Mabel couldn't stifle the smile forming on her face. "I do, Dipper is the best."

"Was everything alright with you guys last night?" She asked, a bit concerned.

"As far as I know yes, to be honest I don't remember most of it," Mabel said with an embarrassed chuckle, "why do you ask?"

"Well Dipper just looked upset or something when you guys were leaving, I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright."

"Oh I'm fine, he was probably just worried about me, he's always so concerned about everything, that's just Dipper."

"Okay, as long as everything is alright."

The class started and put an end to their conversation, as everyone became focused on their work. As the day went on and Mabel went from class to class she gradually forgot about her hangover and about expecting Dipper's text message. By the time she checked her phone her classes were almost done for the day, she had just received a reply from Dip after almost a whole day of silence.

'I'll be home late.'

A bit strange for Dipper, but maybe he was just super busy today. He always had something going on with school or Habitat, and it wasn't uncommon for him to come home a bit later. He probably hadn't had a chance to look at his phone until then. Mabel told him it was alright, and to get home safely. She didn't get a reply, but that was alright. She decided that since Dipper was having a busy day and would be home late, she would cook dinner and leave him some to eat when he got home.

After her final class Mabel ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things. She didn't cook too much, but she could do a thing or two in the kitchen when she had a mind. She would make Dipper some of her delicious home made tacos, it was one of his favorite. Mabel had a special blend of spices that she put into the ground meat to make it taste great, and it always made Dipper's day when she made them. So tacos it would be, oh, and cookies, yeah, cookies would be awesome. She got all she needed and headed home excitedly.

Within an hour all the cooking was done and Mabel sat down to eat a little bit of it herself. It had turned out great! So she packed the rest on a plate with some tin foil and put it in the fridge with a sticky note that read: "for my cute boyfriend". As she read the note she thought about how natural it was to call Dipper her boyfriend now. At first it had been difficult to not slip up around people and say 'brother', but thankfully nobody around here had known either of them prior. Sure she always knew they were twins, but at this point they were so much more than that, so the term seemed to almost fall short. Soul mate seemed more fitting, but Mabel always thought it was cheesy. _Although I do like cheese._ She giggled to herself at the thought. Dipper was kind of cheesy sometimes too, but she always loved it.

Satisfied that Dipper would be fed when he came home, Mabel got to work on an art piece she had been working on for the past few days. It was a figure study she had sketched, and was now going to paint with watercolors. She giggled as she looked at the male figure on the page, naked, with his back turned toward the observer. Of course Dipper had been her reluctant model, and even though Mabel always tried to keep a professional attitude when it came to her art, she allowed herself this little moment of fun. After a few hours of work Mabel found herself dozing slightly in front of her work, so she decided it was time for bed.

Mabel had been asleep for a few hours when she was awoken by the front door to the apartment. She looked at the clock, 2AM. This was late even for Dipper. She decided to wait up in bed and talk to him a bit before going back to sleep, but after several minutes of waiting Dipper hadn't come to bed. He hadn't even gone to the bathroom to brush his teeth or shower or anything. It was time to investigate. Mabel quietly got up and crept toward the living room. She saw Dipper sitting at the kitchen table in almost complete darkness, his back was towards her, and his face was in his hands. Even so Mabel could tell from the way his shoulders were jerking that he was crying, and as she got closer she could hear the weak and stifled sobs escaping through his cupped hands.

"Dipper? What's wrong?" Mabel asked immediately and practically dashed over to the table.

"Mabel!" Dipper jumped in his seat startled, frantically trying to wipe the tears off his face. "I thought you were asleep."

"I was," she said concerned, sitting down beside him at the table and taking his face in her hands, "but I heard you come in and wanted to wait up in bed for you, but you never came. What's going on Dip?" She asked as she wiped another tear from his cheek.

"You don't remember, do you?" He asked with his lip quivering.

"Remember what?" Mabel asked, her concern was growing by the second.

"Last night… at the party," he struggled as more sobs threatened to come out, "you- you made out with someone…" He croaked, more tears beginning to stream down his face.

She had _what_? She had actually kissed some random guy at a party? Mabel? God she _had_ been drunk. If there was one thing Mabel never did it was kiss strange men at parties. Well, she didn't do a lot of things, but that one was pretty high up on the list, _especially_ with being in a relationship. Dipper meant the absolute world to her, and she had let him down by doing that, it crushed her inside.

"Oh my god, Dipper I'm so sorry," she took him into a firm embrace. She couldn't even imagine how Dipper felt inside, sweet, sensitive Dipper. He must have been dying. As much as Dipper had always seemed less emotional, it was far from the truth, when it came to love and relationships, Dipper was like a puppy, and that had its pros and cons. He was loyal to a fault, and loving, and caring, and all of those wonderful things, but he was also hard on himself at times, any time something happened Mabel realized he had a bad habit of putting the blame on himself. Mabel knew this time it was completely her own fault, alcohol or not, it wasn't an excuse.

"Dipper, you must be so mad at me… I'm so so so so sorry… Please forgive me, I was really drunk last night, I don't even remember most of the party, but that's not an excuse, and I know that, I promise it won't happen ever again, I'm never drinking like that again, it was just stupid… Please don't be mad," she pleaded as she gently ran her hand down his cheek.

"I'm not mad Mabel, I'm just sad… I understand, you were drunk, and he was like… A good looking guy or whatever… I can't really fault you for it… Someone like you with someone like him makes sense…"

"Someone like me?" Mabel puzzled.

"Well sure… You're beautiful, and funny, and sexy, and clever, and smart, and amazing, and I'm just… Not. I'm awkward, and weird, and unattractive, I probably did something to cause you to do that-"

The slap landed before she even knew she had done it. It was such an impulsive reaction, Mabel hadn't even thought to stop it. Dipper stared at her, wide eyed and dumbfounded.

"Don't you dare say those things about my Dippy!" She said fuming, before finally realizing what she had just done, "I- I'm sorry Dipper… But I don't care if it's you saying it, nobody gets to say those things about the one I love…"

This was one of the cons of Dipper's sensitivity, the blaming. He believed he had somehow caused all of this when it was clearly Mabel's mistake, and he drowned himself in this pool of self-loathing that always made Mabel upset. He was perfect, he shouldn't be feeling this way about himself.

"I'm sorry…" He said quietly and looked down at his knees.

 _No Mabel, you're doing this all wrong!_ She stopped herself short, this was only making it worse. She was unintentionally turning this situation around on Dipper, maybe it happened more and she hadn't noticed. Was she adding to Dipper's blaming issues without even realizing it? Well if she was she was determined to change it. Mabel took a deep breath to calm down and put Dipper's hands in hers.

"Dip," she began, looking directly into his eyes, "I know I make light of situations sometimes, and I'm sorry for that, I don't mean to brush it off when you tell me nice things, and I think you need to hear it from me. I love you Dipper, I love you more than anything, you're my everything and I appreciate you, you're not awkward, you're amazing, and handsome, and if I'm sexy then you sure as heck are too, we're twins after all. You are the sweetest and most loving and caring person I know, and I am so lucky to not only have you as a brother, but as a boyfriend too, and no matter what I'm still going to be okay with that, even if others think it's wrong, I don't. You're my soul mate and that's not going to change. I screwed up at the party, that's _my_ fault Dipper, not yours, and I will never do it again because you mean too much for me to push you away with drunken mistakes like that."

Dipper was silent for a few moments. Still seeming unsure about himself.

"But what if you just tell yourself that but really you want someone else, and that's why you kissed that guy at the party?"

Mabel grabbed his face with both hands and stared at him sternly.

"Dipper, sweetie, I am literally in an incestual relationship with you. I am willing to break one of society's biggest taboos in order to be with you. If I really wanted someone else, don't you think I'd save myself the trouble of all of this?"

"Is it trouble?" He asked, sounding worried.

"No Dipper! It's amazing! That's the point, it's worth it. You treat me like a queen, you cook for me, you're so caring, you are _always_ there when I need you, in bed you make me shout things that I would never imagine coming out of my flippin' mouth, you're completely faithful, you know me better than I seem to know myself, my friends dream that their boyfriends could be like you, they basically drool over you, and as long as they know that you're mine and that I will end them if they try anything with you, I'm okay with that, because I like having the best boyfriend in the world, and I like when people get jealous of me," she cracked a mischievous smile.

"You really mean all of that?" Dipper asked cautiously.

Before answering she leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Dipper's lips, lingering only just the slightest bit before pulling away and looking into his eyes once again. "Yes, with all my heart."

Without another word, Dipper grabbed Mabel's head and returned the kiss, more hotly, and buried his hands in her hair. She let out a sigh of contentment and melted into him. Their lips began to move more passionately as they remained locked in the kiss. Dipper slipped his tongue into Mabel's mouth, and that was all she needed. She hopped from her chair and onto Dipper's lap without breaking their kiss and straddled his waist. As things intensified Dipper pulled his lips away and promptly moved them to Mabel's neck. She bit back a shout and dug her fingers into the back of Dipper's shirt.

She moved her lips to his ear and whispered, "I love you" before softly biting his earlobe. As if to one-up her, Dipper slipped a hand from out of her hair and placed it on her waist, then slowly moved it up under her shirt to her breasts. The feeling of his hand on her bare skin was like electricity, and she then too moved her lips down to Dipper's neck, biting down harder than on his earlobe. She could feel the pressure building in his jeans, and she began to rhythmically thrust her hips back and forth. Dipper's breathing grew heavier as the pleasure and teasing increased. He moved the hand out from under Mabel's shirt and moved it around to her lower back, moving lower by the second. Mabel slowed her thrusting, unsure of Dipper's next move, he was rarely so assertive. Without hesitation, and seizing the moment of lapse in Mabel's movement, he slid his hand under her panties and slipped a finger inside of her. This time Mabel didn't hold back the shout, as Dipper began to slowly move his finger in and out.

"Bedroom," Mabel whispered after a breath.

Dipper promptly placed his arms firmly under her legs and lifted her up. He carried her to the bedroom carefully, all the while planting kisses on her neck and lips, and gently laid her down on the bed. After a few moments he joined her, but she noticed he had removed his jeans. Again their lips met, and again Dipper slowly slid his hand down Mabel's body, enjoying every curve, until he reached between her thighs and inserted his finger again. After a few minutes of this Mabel was lost in complete bliss, when Dipper got another idea. His lips left hers, and he moved his head down, placing kisses all down her body as he made his way to her pelvis. He proceeded to remove his finger and continue with his tongue instead.

That went on for what felt like hours, and for all Mabel knew, it could have been. She didn't care how long, all she knew was that it felt amazing. Finally Dipper lifted his head back up to hers, and the grand finale could begin. After removing a condom from the nightstand drawer and taking the proper precautions, Dipper gently inserted himself inside of her, going slowly so that they could both enjoy every little sensation. As the speed increased, Dipper took Mabel into his arms. With their bodies pressed together, their sweat and body heat mingled as they both lost themselves in one another.

Mabel woke with the morning sun shining in from the window onto her face. She turned to see that the spot next her in bed wasn't empty, but had a Dipper in it. She tried to move to get the sun out of her eyes, but she was firmly locked in Dipper's arms, she decided to just ignore the sun and continue laying there. It didn't bother her that much. Mabel couldn't remember much of last night, but it was a good sort of forgetfulness, all her memories just seemed to be a sensual blur. So much for tacos, they'd make a tasty breakfast instead. She smiled and cuddled up closer to Dipper, basking in the moment for as long as she could before he had to get up for class. As muddled as her memories seemed to be from their passionate night, one thing was vividly clear in all of it, and she was so happy to have remembered at least this one thing.

 _Dipper._

 **A/N: Hey guys…. Well, I came, I saw, I attempted erotica. Not sure how it turned out…. I really tried to make it sound mature and intimate, rather than just blatant smut, I hope I got that feeling across :/ if not don't hesitate to let me know. This will probably be my only foré into this sort of writing, because I feel like it's the sort of thing that people will either like, or hate, and I really don't want to alienate fans. So if you hated it, I have good news, this will probably be the only chapter like this! So please don't leave, and if you liked it, I'm afraid I've got some bad news, this will probably be the only chapter like this, honestly this was farther out of my comfort zone as a writer than I generally wish to go, romance being challenging enough as it is for me, and I personally don't really think there needs to be more than one chapter like this, that's not really the goal of this story, the twins had some character development, and then they consoled with some intimate time, I think it's good to leave it at that.**

 **Anyway, ramble over, so please tell me what you think, thank you for reading, and now we come to another topic, my tumblr… I have really few followers unfortunately, I hate always prodding about it but I really would like followers so that my tumblr has a point to it, so I am forced to resort to bribing you folks :P from now on, my tumblr will have little snippets of my stories before they are posted, so tumblr followers will get a small sneak peak into new chapters before they are uploaded, I am also planning on making a twitter to perform the same function, but add another medium to distribute it in case there are people who want updates, and have a twitter but don't want to make a tumblr, I'm really trying to make it fun and exciting for you guys as a thank you for the support, so go on and follow me for teasers and the like, my tumblr followers already have a clue about the brand new story that will be dropping on Tuesday, so what's not to love? Thank you all again so much for everything, especially for sitting through this long author's note, you deserve a cookie! I will send you a mental cookie and hope that you end up getting a real cookie you can eat :3 have a great day!**

 **-Encalamah**


	7. Chapter 7

_22_

 _Oh god, is that vomit? Do I have to vomit? Maybe we should pull over._

"Relax Dip," Mabel's soft hand on his leg suddenly calmed the churning feeling in his stomach.

"Sorry Mabel, I'm just nervous."

"I know, I am too, but it needs to happen, don't worry about it just yet, we're not even home."

She was right. Dipper took a deep breath and focused his attention on the view outside the cab. The traffic leaving the airport was moving at a slow crawl around them, and it seemed to calm Dipper's stomach a bit more. When they had been on the flight he had thought the stomach problems were from air sickness, but since there was no such thing as land sickness, he had been forced to realize that his stomach was in turmoil due to nervousness. How was Mabel so calm? _She isn't, she's just better at not showing it._ He was glad she was here for the support. Both of them would need the support for what was coming.

The twins were homebound. Spring break of their senior year was going to be spent at home with the folks, and they were dreading it. They had decided that it was time to come out to their parents about their relationship. In reality neither of them wanted to tell them, it was more that they were being forced to do so. With graduation only weeks away, the twins realized that when their parents showed up to Chicago for both their ceremonies, they would have been able to put two and two together themselves. What with their close living conditions, their officially non-existent relationship history, and everybody they knew in the city referring to them as boyfriend and girlfriend, their parents would have found out the hard way. They had agreed this would be the easy way, if it could be called that. Both Mabel and Dipper knew there wasn't anything easy about it, but they also knew they really had no choice, they couldn't hide it any longer, and honestly, neither of them wanted to.

It was by far the hardest part of their relationship. Everyone in Chicago treated them differently because no one knew they were twins, and it felt great to just be themselves in public without worrying. Thankfully with the way their bodies had developed over the years, the twins looked different enough to not really be seen as twins, especially being different genders, for all people knew they just happened to look similar, but not at home. Around their family everything was different. They had to keep it all a secret, and it hurt, because it was hard keeping something like this from the people you loved and cared about the most. Always having to watch how they acted during holiday gatherings, making sure to seem close but not _too_ close, having to make up excuses for why they weren't seeing anyone. It was all just becoming so tiresome. So they had made the decision, no more secrets, for better or worse they would come clean to their parents. They were adults now, they could make their own choices, so either way, no one was going to stop them from being together.

"Do we wait?" Dipper asked, turning to Mabel nervously, "I mean, should we wait to tell them until the last day so we can just leave?"

"No Dipper, we have to do this right away, rip off the band aid, and face whatever consequences come of it."

"Okay, you're right," Dipper said with no confidence whatsoever, he couldn't stop his hands from shaking. Mabel took his hand in hers and firmly held it. The shaking subsided slightly, he was so glad to have her with him. With Mabel at his side, Dipper was actually prepared to go through with this.

The rest of the ride back to the house was silent. Dipper assumed Mabel was just as lost in her own thoughts as he was in his. The entire time however, the twins held each other's hands, and it made Dipper feel a lot better, despite what he knew was coming. There was no way their parents would take it well, he was sure of that, it was just a matter of how badly they would take it. They would soon find out, as the cab slowed to a halt in their parents' driveway. Dipper was surprised to see the twins' junky old car still sitting in its spot. Their car back in Chicago was much better, and he wondered if this one had even moved since they'd gone off to college. They paid the driver and took their bags out before trudging unenthusiastically to the front door.

Their mother and father greeted them at the door with bright smiles, and the twins tried to force similar expressions as best they could. Talk began as it always did with their parents, school, work, relationships… It seemed like no better time than to segue into what needed to inevitably be said.

"Why don't you kids go put your bags in your rooms before dinner?" Their father said from the kitchen.

"Actually dad, before anything, we really need to talk with you guys," Mabel said flatly, taking a seat in their living room arm chair while Dipper sat on the armrest beside her.

"Alright," their father said as both he and their mother sat down on the couch nearby, clear expressions of growing concern on their faces. Mabel took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak.

"Oh god no one's pregnant are they?" Their mother asked with a mortified look.

"What? No, mom, it's-" Mabel faltered, unable to spit out the words that would most certainly be even worse news for them.

There was an awkward silence that followed, seeming to disregard what Mabel had just said. The tension grew until Dipper couldn't stand the tightness in his chest any longer.

"We're in love," Dipper suddenly blurted out, either out of sheer courage or sheer stupidity. Their parent's faces became completely blank, unreadable.

"What?" Their mother managed to whisper after a few agonizing moments of silence.

"Mom, dad, me and Mabel are in love, we needed to tell you because we were tired of hiding it, but that's how we feel," Dipper proclaimed, surprised by this sudden boldness within himself. Their parents still seemed unable to process what they were hearing, more silent seconds ticked by.

"Do you realize what that…Is?" Their father hissed, seemingly at a loss for words given the circumstances, his voice thick with anger.

"Yeah dad, incest... we're committing incest," Mabel finally chimed in. Their father seemed physically stung by the use of the word, as if it hadn't really been true until someone said it.

"How could you be so stupid as to make a decision like that? I raised you two to be smart and responsible adults." Their father said, his voice growing louder as his anger increased.

"We are dad, this isn't about being smart and responsible, this is about following our hearts, it's not like our lives are falling apart-" Dipper said bitterly.

"It's a miracle that they aren't!" Their father shouted in interuption, "hearts have nothing to do with this, it's disgusting. It's completely wrong, and you two should be ashamed. I mean what will people think? They'd think our children were having- my god… You two haven't had-?"

"Sex, dad?" Mabel shouted as she rose from the armchair, clearly hurt by their father's words, "Sex? Yes, we've had sex, but we're being smart about it, and we can make our own decisions!" Their parent's faces turned pale at the words.

"You watch how you speak to me in my house Mabel Pines, I didn't raise some disrespectful harlot-" their father approached Mabel, screaming, he was absolutely livid at this point. Suddenly something in Dipper snapped, their father had pushed too far. He sprung off the armrest and stepped between Mabel and their father, getting within a few inches of his face. Dipper hadn't noticed until now that he was his father's height, and much more built.

" _You_ better watch how you speak, because we are adults. She said we can make our own decisions, and we can, and parent or not, you _do not_ speak to my sister and my girlfriend like that. Ever," he said venomously.

His dad took a step back, wide eyed, completely caught off guard by Dipper's sudden defense of Mabel. Once the shock wore off, his face became hard.

"Get out," he said softly, which was even more unnerving than when he yelled. The twins exchanged looks of confusion. "I said get out, take your bags and leave. You aren't welcome in this house, ever, the only time I want to see your faces back here is to pick up your shit from your rooms to move out. You two are a disappointment to this family." Their father walked away without another word. The twins looked to their mother for some sort of sign of defense or contrary directions, but they got none. Their mother remained seated, she hadn't said a word, she just stared at the wall blankly, seemingly unable to look either of them in the eyes. With nothing else to do or say, the twins picked up their bags and went out to the driveway.

They packed their bags into their old junky car, and after Dipper had bravely but reluctantly gone back inside to find the keys, they drove onto their street. After driving only a few blocks, Dipper had to pull over, the tears in his eyes were making it impossible to see the road. He could see that beside him in the passenger's seat, Mabel was crying as well.

"I'm sorry Mabel, I really screwed up-" he turned to her. Mabel reached across the center console and threw her arms around him, squeezing him into a tight hug.

"Thank you Dipper," she sobbed in his ear.

"For what?" He asked in confusion.

"For standing up for me like that, I love you so much," she said as tears began to soak his shirt. Dipper hadn't expected that, but he needed to be there for Mabel.

"No problem Mabel, I'll always protect you," he said reassuringly, placing a hand on her head as tears streamed down his own face.

"Are we a disappointment?" Mabel asked quietly after a few minutes.

"No," Dipper said confidently, pulling away from the hug to look Mabel in the eyes, "we aren't, we're two people who are in love, and that's all that matters, just because they can't understand that it doesn't change a thing."

"Where do we go now…?" Mabel asked with a look of bewilderment.

"I think I know a good place," Dipper said after some thought.

* * *

The sun had already sunk beyond the horizon, and darkness was deepening when the twins pulled their car into a parking spot in front of the Mystery Shack. They each grabbed their bags and walked up the porch to the front door. Dipper knocked loudly, and they stood waiting for a while, until the door opened. In the doorway stood none other than Grunkle Stan, in his underwear as usual. At first he seemed angry, until he realized who was at the door, at which point his face lit up.

"Kids!" He exclaimed, wrapping them both in a hug. "Well this is sure unexpected, what brings you out to this dump of a town?"

"Hey Stan! Would we be able to stay here for a little while?" Mabel asked.

"Of course," he said with a grin, "although I wasn't expecting you two, I didn't get a call from your parents or anything," he turned to go inside and beckoned the twins to follow.

"We know," Dipper said as they stepped out of the evening air into the gift shop area of the Shack. "Things aren't very good between our parents and us right now."

"I see," Stan said with a grunt and a pensive expression, "well, you'd better tell me all about it then."

It took them about half an hour to explain the entire story to Grunkle Stan, from the very beginning of their relationship to the moment they were kicked out by their parents. Through the whole story, Stan sat at the table across from them silently, staring at the twins intently. His face seemed grave, but there was no indication of anger in his expression. Once the story was finished, the twins sat in silence, waiting nervously for any reaction from Stan. He slowly gave a sigh.

"Wow," he said with a chuckle, scratching his head, "That's quite a story."

"Are you going to kick us out too?" Mabel asked fearfully.

"Kick you out? Are you crazy? I'd pay you kids to visit more, if I felt like spending money. Even with Ford living here now it gets pretty lonely, he spends all his time in that nerd lab of his."

"But aren't you grossed out by all of this?" Dipper asked skeptically.

"Kid," Stan began slowly, looking Dipper straight in the eye, "when you live a life like mine you see a lot of strange things. I've been all over the place, I've been in various penal systems, I've seen, heard, and done, a lot of things… Mostly for money. The point is I'd honestly be lying if I said your situation was the weirdest thing I've seen."

"Really…?"

"Really. I might not get this whole… _thing,_ you two have," he said with a gesture of his hands, unable to find the word,but I know what it's like to want to do anything and everything for your twin, no matter what. Ford may be a bastard sometimes, but I still love 'im. So no matter what happens, you two are always welcome here." He gave them a warm smile. "Just no weird stuff," he added with a half mocking face, "and no sharing beds."

So the twins ended up spending their spring break in Gravity Falls. With no other place, the twins shared their old room again, though they shared a bed together anyway. It had been a few years since they'd come to spend the summer, with school and work and all, so Dipper was really glad to be revisiting all of their old hangouts. They spent days walking through the woods together, rediscovering lost secrets and memories. Soos was still working at the Shack, with the full title of 'honorary manager', though he still got paid the same. Wendy was out of town, visiting with family out of state, so the twins unfortunately didn't get the chance to see her. Dipper spent some time with Grunkle Ford as well, catching up on life over some intense sessions of Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons. As the week progressed, Dipper realized how much the town really had changed in the past decade. New faces, new buildings, and some things that seemed to no longer be around.

By the end of the week, Dipper found it hard to leave. He knew he had to go back to school, but being back around Gravity Falls just felt great. He knew where he and Mabel would be spending the coming summer. First however they needed to get back and finish up their classes. Stan was generous enough to pay for their plane tickets back to Chicago, and he said he'd be expecting a visit from them over the summer. The twins thanked him a dozen times, and promised that they'd be back. Leaving the junky car at the Shack, they had Stan drive them to the airport in Pendleton. The flight was calm and beautiful, with views of the forests and the peaks of the Rockies, then the open plains of the Midwest stretching out far below.

Dipper felt so much serenity on that flight, with Mabel beside him. Sure, things were pretty bad on the homefront, and Dipper knew that he should've been more worried, but he just… Wasn't. All of it seemed so meaningless now. He really wished their parents were okay with this, but he always knew deep down inside that there was no way they could be, and maybe after all this time he had finally come to terms with it, and now that he was actually here, it really didn't matter anymore. He had the love of his life beside him, his real adult life was on the cusp of beginning, and he had a loving Grunkle who, if not understood, then sympathized with them and offered them the only thing they needed right now, a place to belong. Everything really was working out, even if it meant having to say goodbye to a part of their lives. As long Mabel was with him, Dipper would give up anything, she was the only thing in his life he needed.

* * *

The last weeks of school went fairly smoothly for the twins, as both of them had a good grip on all their courses. Before they knew it, graduation was upon them, with a feeling of excitement in the air as the days crept closer to the ceremonies. Mabel's graduation was happening before Dipper's. It was a fairly nice late-spring day as Dipper sat in his chair surrounded by hundreds of other proud family and friends, all looking up at their graduates receiving their diplomas. He quickly spotted his lovely graduate, standing on the stage beaming, Mabel seemed hardly able to contain her joy. She looked down into the audience and spotted Dipper, who gave her a smile and a wave. Mabel's smile widened even further. Once all the diplomas were distributed, everyone did the cliché hat toss thing and began to disperse to meet their family members. Mabel gave a squeal of excitement as she barreled into Dipper's open arms. He spun her around in his arms as they both giggled. As he placed her back on her feet, Mabel leaned in and gave him a long and passionate kiss.

Suddenly he felt Mabel tense up, and opening his eyes he could see that Mabel was staring at something behind with wide eyes. She broke the kiss and Dipper turned around to see their mother standing just feet away with a horrified expression. Dipper's face turned beet red, but he was determined to not be ashamed of his actions, that would only validate his parents' belief.

"Hi mom," he said stiffly after a few moments.

"Hello Dipper," she answered, no sound of anger in her voice.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, a bit more accusation in his tone than he had meant.

"I came to see my daughter's graduation, is that alright with you?" She asked in half amusement.

"I thought you guys were mad at us," Mabel cut in.

"Your father is still… Upset, about the situation," their mother said sadly, "he chose to stay home, but you know how he can be. I wasn't about to miss my children's graduation because he's choosing to fume, he doesn't understand like I do."

"What do you mean?" Dipper asked suspiciously.

"I'm your mother," she said distantly, "I carried you two for nine months, I gave birth to you. I can't just turn my back on my I disagree with your… Lifestyle choice, you'll still always be my babies," she said with a quaver in her voice, bringing both twins into a tight embrace.

After the initial shock passed, Dipper felt relief wash over him. Well, at least their mom didn't hate them, she had come down here after all. They invited her to come spend the day with them, and she agreed, provided the twins acted, at least around her, simply as twins.

Dipper's own graduation came and went with all the same pageantry and celebration. Before long they were at the airport saying goodbye to their mother. She stood at the doorway leading to departures and stared at them for a long while, as if she were having a debate within her mind. Eventually she seemed to come to some sort of conclusion, and she nodded slightly.

"We'll keep in touch," she said simply.

"Will dad be angry with you?" Mabel asked.

"I'm sure he'll be cranky for a little while, but I made this decision, I'm a big girl, he'll just have to deal with it."

Dipper enjoyed the irony of that statement given recent events, and couldn't help cracking a small smile.

"Bye mom," he said.

"Goodbye kids," she said with the most earnest smile she seemed to be able to manage. After giving them both parting hugs she entered the airport and disappeared in swarms of people milling about inside.

Their drive home was silent, but comfortable. It wasn't the kind of silence that felt like it needed to be broken, it was the sort of silence that people in love were truly alright being in. It brought on the same sense of peace that Dipper had felt on the flight from Oregon. He felt something touch his resting hand. Instinctively Dipper laced the fingers through his own and gave Mabel's hand a squeeze, a smile crossing his features. Life was great. Even if they had no family to turn to whatsoever, Dipper had everything he needed right here, he was prepared to face everything life had to throw at him, because he had someone who would be there at his side through all of it.

 _Mabel_

 **A/N:** **Hello readers! Wow it's been a while. I teased this chapter way long ago and have only been able to just finish it. I'm sorry about the long lack of updates, but everything is happening in life right now and I just haven't had the time to write :/ Unfortunately this situation doesn't seem poised to end anytime soon, so until further notice story updates will be coming a lot less frequently :( I know, it hurts me too, but I really can't do any better than that.**

 **I'm happy to finally have this chapter up though, because it's super important in the whole storyline. I was considering making this the last chapter, but I actually have more cool Pines twins domestic situations planned, so I think I'll continue, unless you guys like this as the end in which case feel free to let me know. Also, if you're bored and want reading material feel free to send me any sort of prompt ideas for Pinecest and I will be happy to start a sort of one-shot storyline for those. Honestly you can probably send me any sort of GF ship and I'll give it a go if I like it.**

 **In other news! I have some very cool stuff in the works folks. Since this was my first story, and has the most followers and longest readers, etc, I figured it would be a good place to tease my very first original story! (That will be posted on the internet anyway). A bigger sneak peak will be available to my tumblr and twitter followers, but I can tell you folks now that it will be a sci-fi space opera, so if you like my writing and that genre you are in for a real treat. I am hoping to put the first chapter on fictionpress and my DA within the coming weeks, details will be available as I make them. If you want to support my original work I would love that very much, since I aim to publish my work for real eventually.**

 **Thanks for reading my ramble, thank you for reading my work, and thanks for the support, I appreciate you all, have a great day!**


	8. Chapter 8

_28_

 _They need to make this damn faculty parking bigger._

Dipper swore under his breath as he pulled his car into one of the only open spots, as far away from the building as possible. Of course, to make matters worse, it was pouring rain outside, typical Seattle weather. Using his jacket as a makeshift umbrella, he ran quickly into the building of Russell High School. Shaking off the water on the entrance rug, he was greeted by a familiar face.

"Morning Dipper, really coming down out there huh?"

"Morning Jim," he answered with a huff, "yeah, cats and dogs. Anything going on today?"

"Aside from the usual craziness?" The hall monitor pursed his lips in contemplation, then lit up with an expression of recollection. "Ah yes, the district superintendent is here today, wants to have a meeting with all the councilors, something about new policies I think."

"Fantastic," Dipper said with grimace, eliciting a chuckle from Jim.

"Try to stay awake," the balding man said with a smile.

After saying his farewell Dipper made his way into the school's office, greeting the usual people as he passed. After setting his things down in his office and grabbing a cup of coffee, me reluctantly made his way into the meeting room. Inside he found all the other councilors already seated, as well as Principal Cho and the superintendent.

"Good morning Mr. Pines, thank you for joining us," Principal Cho greeted, a passing smile on her face.

Dipper took a seat and the meeting started. As the superintendent droned on monotonously about grade curves and test scores, and something about pushing students to take more summer electives, Dipper found himself twiddling his fingers idly as his mind wandered away from the meeting. He'd heard all this crap before anyway, it was the same thing every month, and it was not the reason Dipper had gotten into social work. The things that overtook his thoughts was dinner. He wasn't sure what he was going to make. Pork chops sounded good, but whatever the case he'd have to stop at the store after school.

After an hour that felt painfully longer than it should have, the meeting finally ended and Dipper was able to get to his office and start his real work. The beginning of the day was the usual stuff, emails, paperwork, schedules. Around fourth period, once student lunches started, was when things got more lively. Students began to see him about schedules and credits, and the day passed quickly. It was already near the end of the day, when a young man Dipper didn't recognize came and knocked on the office door. He was a tall, lanky, hispanic kid, most likely a senior by the looks of it.

"Hi, Mr. Pines?" He asked nervously.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" He asked with a smile.

"Um, I heard that you help kids who have problems, and give good advice, and I was wondering if um- maybe you could help me out?"

"Good advice huh?" Dipper chuckled, "well that's good, I wouldn't be much of a councilor if I didn't. Come on in, have a seat." He closed the door as the kid sauntered in and gingerly took a seat.

There was a few uncomfortable seconds of silence as the newcomer nervously looked around the office.

"So why don't you start off by telling me your name?" Dipper said calmly, sitting back in his chair.

"Raul," he answered after a moment, as if he was unsure if he should reveal that.

"Alright Raul, and what seems to be the issue?"

"Well, there's this girl… And we like each other, a lot and… Our parents, they don't get along, they kind of hate each other actually, and they don't want us to see each other, and it's just-" Raul placed his knuckles in front of his mouth as his voice wavered.

"It's what Raul?" Dipper asked with concern, leaning forward in his chair now.

"I just- I love her y'know? So damn much, and I just can't lose her, I don't know what to do." He wiped his eyes in a futile attempt to hide his tears. He placed his face in his hands in frustration.

"I know what you're going through," Dipper said after a few moments. Raul looked up at him through red eyes.

"You do…?"

"Yes, see when I was about your age I fell in love with a girl, she was very special to me. I had known her all my life, and we were best friends, but our parents would never be okay with our relationship, and neither would anyone else really, but we didn't care, we stayed together anyway, and we tried to make it work for years even if we couldn't express our love in front of everyone, we took that road anyway."

"What happened, with you and her?" Raul asked with wonder. Dipper's lips curved up into a smile.

"I married her."

He placed a hand on Raul's shoulder.

"So you know what? When people tell you that you can't be with someone, ignore them, because it's your life and your future, don't let others dictate how you live, because that's your own choice."

"You're right…" Raul said with a faint smile, he got up from his chair and stood confidently, "thank you Mr. Pines." They shook hands and he went on his way, leaving Dipper to enjoy the feeling of helping someone that had gotten him into this field in the first place.

As he sat musing he habitually spun his wedding band around his finger using his other hand. His thoughts began to drift to Mabel, lovely, wonderful Mabel. He missed her. He always missed her. After almost five years of marriage he still felt the same spark of love and longing he had always had.

It was difficult sometimes. Legally marrying your twin was far from easy, and in the end a legal document or two… Or a few, had to be forged. Thankfully Stan had good connections. To them it was worth the risk, because they had each other.

The thought of Mabel brought dinner back into his mind. Mabel would be home from her gallery opening late tonight, and he wanted to surprise her with something nice to eat. He decided on veal instead of pork chops, with garlic potatoes and asparagus. Maybe he'd pick up a bottle of champagne to celebrate her big opening.

With plans in mind and school over Dipper made his way to the store to get everything together. Around that time the grocery store wasn't too packed, so he got what he needed and checked out rather quickly, walking with a brisk excitement back to his car. With bags in hand Dipper stepped through the front door and grabbed the mail that lay before the door beneath the mail slot.

Bills, a special credit card "offer", a bank statement, and then something that stopped Dipper dead in his tracks. His breath caught in his chest, and his heart suddenly raced. A yellow envelope, there was a government seal stamped on the back. Shakily he turned it over to see what was written on the front. His stomach knotted.

* * *

Mabel turned her key in the lock and stepped excitedly into the house.

"Dippy, I'm home," she called into the hall. There was no answer. "Dipper?" She called again.

"I'm in the kitchen," she heard Dipper answer. Something about his voice gave her the slightest tinge of concern. She found him sitting at the dining table, with his head resting on his hand. There was a bottle of champagne on the table, and a yellow envelope on the table in front of him. She smiled.

"Aw, champagne? Is that to celebrate the gallery opening-?" Her smile faltered when Dipper looked up with tears in his eyes. She quickly came over and took a seat beside him.

"Dipper what's wrong?" She placed a hand on his shoulder.

Dipper didn't answer, but slid the yellow envelope across the table to her. It looked pretty official, and it had a government seal on the back. Mabel's mind began to race. What was it? Did something bad happen? Was one of their forged documents discovered? Was is a warrant? No, that was dumb, warrants were delivered in person. Mabel felt her pulse quicken by the second. Slowly she reach out and pick up the piece of mail. She flipped it over in her hands and saw boldly on the front: _**SACAS.**_ Mabel recognized the abbreviation.

"The adoption service?" She looked up to see Dipper looking at her with a big grin, his eyes still wet with tears.

"Emily picked us."

Mabel got up from the table, cupping her hands over her mouth, as tears began to well up in her eyes as well.

"We- we're getting a baby..?" She finally said after some effort.

"We're getting a baby!" Dipper exclaimed, practically jumping out of his chair as he stood.

Mabel let out a squeal of joy and threw her arms around Dipper, bringing him into a crushing hug. He reciprocated just as enthusiastically, picking her up and twirling her around.

"We're getting a baby," she repeated softly, muffled by having her face buried in Dipper's neck. Dipper put her down and placed his hands on her cheeks, looking deep into her eyes.

"We're going to be parents," he giggled.

Mabel laughed and cried at the same time, before leaning in and planting her grinning lips on Dipper's.

"Ready for another adventure?" Dipper asked, offering his hand to Mabel. She took it and laced their fingers together, giving him the biggest smile she thought she could possibly have.

"With you? Always."

 **A/N: Wow! What's it been like three months? I am still alive for those that were wondering. Because of the big leave of absence I have quite a bit of news so prepare for a rant.**

 **First off, sorry for the wait, and thanks for the patience. Hopefully I will be able to put out content again in the near future, but no promises. I was extremely busy, life happens, and when it rains it frickin pours, and I have a big project I need to finish by July that I'm currently way behind on as it is. I will try my best however.**

 **Second of all, this will be the final chapter of Always There. I know that will make some people sad, but all stories must come to an end. In all honesty I felt like ending it on part 7, and this is more like an epilogue than anything else, but this was a piece of the story I had been tossing around my brain for a while and I really wanted to get it out. The thing about Pinecest is that the beginning in always the best, the suspense, the buildup, I feel like that's what people like, as much as they also like domestic stuff, you can only take that so far before it gets repetitive and fillery. So this is the end, but I hope that it's a satisfying ending for you guys at least. I know it's a bit sappy, but I'm a sappy guy, this was a pretty sappy story, we're all saps here, feelings.**

 **Thirdly, I will be retconning Two Broken Halves. There are some story changes I want to make, namely removing the Pinecest elements, I'm sorry to those that enjoyed that, but I feel that it is not relevant to the story I'm planning to tell there, so I will be replacing the chapters sometime soon.**

 **Fourth, just some random stuff, feel free to leave a comment, or message me on Fanfic, my tumblr, or my twitter, with prompts you want for situations or pairings for GF and I'll gladly start a One Shots story thread for your good people's amusement. In addition please let me know what you think of this chapter, comments are the bees knees, so please write me some, good or bad, I'll read it all. Also, in regards to my space opera, it is in the works, but like all my writing it has been put on the backburner recently, if anyone's interested in that it'll be coming… Eventually. Thanks for sticking through the rant, love you all!**


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